


just roommates...

by sincerelysobbe



Series: Skam Bingo Event (2020) [3]
Category: SKAM (Netherlands), WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: (gasp) they're ROOMMATES, Friends With Benefits, I'm not sure if this is technically explicit, Implied/Referenced Smut, M/M, Rating just in case, Vague Smut?, but it's the most explicit thing I'll ever write so just in case, crackship?, i'm not sure, roommates with benefits, sobbe is a background couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:01:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24240235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelysobbe/pseuds/sincerelysobbe
Summary: Over the course of the first few months, their roommateship had simply been that. They shared a bedroom and living space together. Whenever one of them had to study for a test or complete a paper, the other one generally tried to be quiet and non-distracting or left the dorm all together to give them the peace and solitude that the other person needed. But, one day, it somehow shifted and they became almost something close to friends.And, that’s all Jens expected them to be.Friends.Roommates.Until, well, theyweren’t.
Relationships: Jens Stoffels/Lucas van der Heijden, Sander Driesen/Robbe IJzermans
Series: Skam Bingo Event (2020) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657429
Comments: 12
Kudos: 107





	just roommates...

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! 
> 
> I know that it's been a long time since I've posted a fic, but school is officially over and I got the idea for a VDS friends with benefits while stuck on my Sobbe friends with benefits. And, tada, this fic was born. Thankfully, I just so happened to finish it just in time for VDS fic day so I hope that you all enjoy this wonderful story! 
> 
> Also, I wasn't for sure on the rating because there are moments where it does imply smut. While I think that this could still be a rated M fic, I simply bumped it up to explicit just to be safe. 
> 
> (also apologies for it being on the lengthy side, I legitimately do not know how it got so long)

Jens Stoffels didn’t know what to think about Lucas Van Der Heijden. 

When Jens had moved into his dorm, he had been hopeful that he would’ve been Robbe’s roommate. The boy was his oldest friend and knew his habits better than anyone else (except maybe his own mother) so it seemed like a perfect fit. But, somehow, Robbe had been given a single dorm down the hall while Jens was stuck with some kid from the Netherlands. It wasn’t so bad because the two of them were still close, still ended up walking to campus together more times than not, and still played Fortnite at least once a week in one of their dorms or skated at the nearby skatepark that they found together. 

But, at first glance, Lucas Van Der Heijden felt familiar. 

Lucas was short, or well, shorter than Jens which isn’t a hard feat to accomplish because he towered over mostly everyone that he knew, but not as short as Robbe was, with wild blond curls that fell against his forehead. When their mothers (and Jens’ sisters) had been around, fretting over them being so far away from home, Lucas had been nice and polite, grinning and smiling at the women and assuring him that they would be okay and not kill each other. But, as soon as they were gone, he made his snark and wit known to Jens with a sly grin and an offer of a joint which only caused Jens to grin. From what Jens could gather, he seemed to have an affinity for jean jackets and button-up shirts with the top buttons undone and striped shirts. 

In one of the nights that the two of them had stayed up, talking, smoking a joint, Jens was struck with the reason as to why Lucas had seemed so familiar to him. Lucas held himself the same way that Robbe had all those years ago, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. When they were a little high and maybe a little drunk, Lucas told him how his father had left his mother because he “couldn’t deal with her anymore” and how Lucas had taken care of her and how he was worried about her with him being so far away. Jens had tried to assure him that his mother would be okay, but he wasn’t sure that Lucas was comforted by the notion itself. 

But, outside of their dorm, the two of them rarely seemed to talk. Their classes were on opposite ends of the campus on most days. There were a handful of times where their paths to class would link up and they’d walk together, talking about something or another before the two of them were separating onto their diverging paths again. Occasionally, Lucas would show up at the skatepark with a black-haired guy shorter than him, Kes, he thought, and sometimes another guy with an undercut and a mass of curls. Sometimes, they would skate; sometimes, they would just hang out on the edge of the ramp, laughing. But, every time that Jens would glance over, contemplate on going over to say hi, Robbe would be calling him or Moyo would be telling him some joke or Aaron would start on his recent plan on how he would **finally** manage to catch Amber’s eye and demand Jens’ full attention. 

Over the course of the first few months, their roommateship had simply been that. They shared a bedroom and living space but not much more. Whenever one of them had to study for a test or complete a paper, the other one generally tried to be quiet and non-distracting or left the dorm all together to give them the peace and solitude that they needed. But, one day, it shifted and they became something close to friends.

If the two of them had an early morning class, they would leave the dorm together, their respective keys buried in their pockets, talking about something or another, until they met Robbe down the hall on the way to the elevator and continued on their way. When Jens was with his friends at the skate park and Lucas arrived with his friends, the three of them would come over and it would a large group of seven, the two groups easily becoming one. Occasionally, Lucas would join Jens and the rest of the Broerrrs in the cafeteria, sitting amongst them like they always belonged. 

And, that’s all Jens expected them to be. 

Friends. 

Roommates.

Until, well, they _weren’t_. 

* * *

Lucas: _Hey, avoid the dorm for about an hour._

The shrill ding from his phone had come seconds before his skateboard soared off the surface of the graffitied ramp, briefly soaring in the air. The unexpected notification had briefly thrown him off, but not enough to send his back against the pavement, and the wheels of the board landed back on the cement, bringing Jens along with it. There were cheers, hoops, and hollers from his crowd of onlookers, Robbe and Moyo being the loudest among them. As his momentum brought him back in the direction of the group of five, who was sitting on top of a ramp in the empty skate park, Jens dug through his pocket and pulled out his phone, finding the text message staring back up at him. 

Stepping off the skateboard at the edge of the ramp containing his friends, pressing down his on the heel of the skateboard to tilt it up almost automatically, he paused to type a message to Lucas. 

Jens: _Why? Is something happening that I need to know about?_

Lucas: _Funny._

_Just avoid the dorm, please?_

_I’ll text you when you can come back._

Jens: _Okay?_

There was a swipe of motion at the edge of his peripheral vision, causing him to flinch back in surprise only to relax at the sight of Moyo, grinning down at him from his perch on the edge of the ramp. Robbe was sitting beside him, laughing about something with Kes, who was sitting on his own skateboard, and Aaron was on Moyo’s other side. “Nice trick, man,” Moyo spoke, grinning from ear-to-ear. Glancing away from Jens, he glanced at the other boys in the group. “Who’s turn is it now?” 

“Robbe?” Aaron piped up.

“Fuck no,” Robbe grinned, giggling. “I just went!” 

“I think it’s Jayden’s turn,” Kes offered, motioning towards Jayden, who was walking up to them with his skateboard tucked under one arm. “Why else do you think he walked away?” 

“Dude!” As Jens tossed Robbe his skateboard, which was caught without fail, the group of them all laughed at Jayden, who shook his head. He placed his skateboard on the edge of the ramp and balanced on it delicately with a grin across his face. He made a big show of pointing at Kes, who held up his hands in defense, as Jens pushed himself up, sitting down on Robbe’s free side. “You know what, Kes? Fine. Watch this!”

And, then, he was gone, sliding down the ramp and onto his performance. 

Kes shook his head, laughing as Jayden moved up the opposing ramp, ready to lift off in the air, and Robbe turned towards Jens, who was still looking at his phone. There was a text message from Lies, asking if he was coming home next weekend, but Lucas hadn’t responded back yet. Jens thought about texting him again but figured that he might be preoccupied with whatever he was avoiding the apartment for. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Jens remarked, holding up his phone. “Lucas just told me I should avoid the dorm for an hour.”

“Is he studying?” Robbe questioned. 

“Nah,” Aaron spoke up, turning towards them. “Lucas is probably just getting to know his right hand.” Jens squinted his eyes at Aaron, shaking his head, and Robbe descended into a fit of giggles, pressing his face into the palms of his hands. “What?” Aaron questioned, shrugging his shoulders like it was obvious. “That’s got to be why he isn’t here! If Jayden and Kes are both here, Lucas is always with them!” 

“But, he wouldn’t need to get to know his right hand,” Kes commented, smirking over at him. “Unlike you, Aaron, Lucas is perfectly capable of saying what he feels for someone.” The group laughed and Aaron looked attacked. “Besides, he’s dating someone. If I had to guess, that’s probably what is happening. Sorry, mate.” 

“I don’t care about it. I’m just glad I didn’t have to walk in on it,” Jens remarked, glancing over at Robbe. The brunet avoided his gaze, shaking his head, mumbling out a sorry in the palm of his hands. Kes grinned over at them. “Just as long as they use his bed and not mine, he can do whoever he wants and I’ll be fine.” 

“I said I was sorry,” Robbe groaned. “I only walked in on you _one_ time.”

“Robbe, you knew Jana and I were in there!”

“Maybe, you shouldn’t make plans with me and then stop to have sex!” 

“You too?” Kes spoke up, raising an eyebrow. 

Jens nodded his head. 

“Guys!” it was Jayden, who had returned to the ramp in front of them. The boys all blinked at him in surprise. The black-haired boy comically hung his head and let out a loud sigh. “You guys didn’t even pay attention to my trick!”

“I’m sorry, Jayden,” Robbe spoke up.

Somewhere behind them, Kes demanded, “Do it again!”

“But-”

“Jayden, Jayden!” they chanted. 

“Fine,” the black-haired skater spoke, pushing away from the group with an aggressive kick. “But make sure that you pay attention this time!”

* * *

After the skies had unexpected started pouring rain onto their shoulders in the midst of their friendly competition of tricks and skills, the rest of them had raced back to the dorms. They had skated and raced the entire way, laughing loudly when Robbe and Kes ended up tying in the lobby of the dorms. Isa, a beautiful girl with light brown curls, was there to witness it with her friend, Liv, laughing loudly before Kes attempted to smother her with kisses and drenched hugs. Once they had reached the dorms, the group of them had separated, dripping from the downpour, and promising to meet up again next week. 

Well, everyone except for Jens, who had retreated to Robbe’s single dorm. 

His brunet best friend had refused to let him sit on the bed, considering the fact that his clothes were still soaked. He was still technically barred from his own room since Lucas hadn’t sent him a text to let him know that it was safe to return back to their room and Jens did feel like risking it quite yet. And, that’s how he ended up on the floor of Robbe’s apartment, laying back on the surfboard that Robbe had put down, and watching as Robbe studied at his desk. 

“So,” Jens spoke up, not feeling the silence that had become drawn out for the past fifteen minutes. Robbe turned towards him, grinning down at him with a smug smirk on his face. His hair was still sticking to his forehead, but he was dressed in dry clothes. Even with Robbe’s clothes always being a size too big on him, they were still too small for Jens or he would’ve changed too. “Have you met any other people in your classes?”

“Not really,” Robbe remarked, shrugging his shoulders. “Yasmina’s still my go-to study partner.” 

“Ah,” Jens spoke, nodding his head. “Any hot dudes or Grinder one-night stands I should know about?” 

“No,” Robbe remarked, turning back to his notes. “At least, not yet. There’s a cute guy that works at the coffee shop but I’m not looking for a relationship right now. Are you trying to tell me something?” Jens laughed, shaking his head. “Because, if either one of us needs to get laid, it’s _you_ and not me for once. But, you’ve always shown your frustration more than me.” Jens always thought that was because Robbe had spent a significant portion of their junior year hiding a part of him, but he didn’t speak up about that. “So, are there any hot girls or guys that I should expect you to bring to the next party that we’re invited to?”

For whatever reason that Jens couldn’t comprehend, an image of Lucas flashes in his mind along with the image of the girl in his communication class. The appearance of both their images threw him off balance as he tried to sit up, his hand sliding out from beneath him. “Not something that’s long term,” Jens admitted, managing to stabilize himself. Robbe turned to him, a skeptical look ghosting over his face. “There’s a girl in one of my classes and we flirt a lot once the class is over, but I don’t think that it’ll end up being anything that lasts a while.”

“Who knows?” Robbe spoke, flipping through his notes. “Something might surprise you.” Jens nodded his head. “Have you heard back from Lucas yet? You’re driving me insane. I have a psychology test in a few days and you are not helping me study.” 

“You said I could stay here.”

“You also said you would shut up and you’re not managing that. Just text Lucas and maybe you can actually get some dry clothes on you.” 

Jens rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone from his pocket. Thankfully, it had emerged unharmed from the torrential and unexpected downpour, but there were still no new messages from Lucas on his lock screen. He found his messages with his roommate easily and fired off a message. 

Jens: _Is it safe to come back now?_

_Robbe is threatening to kick me out and I don’t want to go back out in the rain._

Lucas: _Good for him. You need to be put in your place every once in a while._

_And, I don’t know. I have to think about it._

Jens: _Lucas. My clothes are still sticking to me._

Lucas: _I’m kidding._

_Of course, it’s safe_

Jens: _Good, because Robbe’s definitely going to kick me out._

_Also, since my clothes are wet, I’m only allowed to sit on his surfboard._

_And I would really like to get some dry clothes on._

Lucas: _I’m still sticking with my previous statement._

_Good for him._

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone to your studying for your psychology exam,” Jens announced, pushing himself to his feet and pattering over to his shoes by the door. Robbe pivoted in his seat as Jens slipped his feet into his shoes. “Don’t try to overwork your brain too hard like you always do. Or, if you do, you could go find that cute guy that works in the coffee shop. Maybe, he can help you destress from your study habits.” Rolling his eyes, Robbe flipped him off before returning to his work. 

“Go bug Lucas instead of me.”

“I will.”

“And lock the door!”

Before he shut the door, Jens reached inside to flip the lock on the back of the doorknob. There was a muffled “thanks” from the other side of the door and Jens simply knocked in response before he turned in the direction of his dorm, stepping closer to the comfort of dry clothes. 

As Jens reached his eventual destination, one foot moving in front of the other, a door opened and the movement quickly caught Jens’ curious eyes. It was a tall brown-haired guy with denim jeans that curved against his thighs, long brown curls which were pulled half-up in a bun on the top of his head, and a t-shirt with a bronze eagle on the front. The guy stepped away from the door, slipping his jacket across his shoulders, and moved in the direction of Jens. He looked up, his eyes catching Jens, and gave him a quick half-nod of acknowledgment before continuing on, out the door to the lobby, and completely out of sight. 

Jens turned back to the room that he had come out of and his mind realized that he had come out of _his_ dorm room. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he glanced back over his shoulder to the unknown man that just left. Shaking the thought from his head, he pushed opened the door and stepped inside his dorm room 

The dorm was different than what it had been a month or two ago. 

Both Jens and Lucas had decorated the walls by their beds with their own sketches, some of them the by-products of competitions on who can draw the weirdest creature. There was more clutter that adorned the floors in the form of backpacks and shoes and discarded notebooks. Both sides of the room were mirror images of the other with their beds pressed up against the furthest wall, their desks at the door of the bed, and their dressers framing the window in between them. The only sole thing breaking the mirror image was the television that they propped up on the top of Jens’ dresser and his gaming system attached to it. 

His eyes immediately caught Lucas, who was standing behind the chair at his own desk. The blond-haired guy was half leaning on it, staring down at his phone in his hand. He had chosen to switch his sweats and hoodie for a pair of denim jeans that clung to his hips and a pink sweater that fell down past his wrists. His other hand was messing with the page of his sketchbook, a sketch half-started on the page, and he seemed engrossed with whatever was on his phone. 

“Hey,” Jens spoke, announcing his presence. 

Lucas glanced up from his phone and smirked over at him. “Damn, you weren’t kidding about your clothes starting to stick to you.” Jens stuck out his tongue and made a face before stripping off his hoodie that was still partially soaked through. His undershirt stuck to his skin and a shiver ran across his spine as he draped the hoodie over his desk chair. “A hot shower might do you good,” Lucas added, hesitantly. Jens glanced over at him as Lucas returned to looking at his phone. 

“Probably,” Jens said. He kicked off his shoes by the front door before moving across the room to his dresser. Pulling open the drawers, he fished out a pair of gray sweats and his favorite maroon hoodie and a pair of underwear. A hot shower was starting to sound appealing to him. With the thought in his head, he tucked his clothes under his arm and turned back to Lucas, who was sitting down at his desk. “Who was that guy who just left? Were you working on a project for one of your classes?”

Lucas snorted, his nose scrunching up as he did. But, Jens didn’t know if it was because of him or whatever was on his phone. “No, it was nothing like that,” he remarked, laughing as he glanced up at Jens. “Sorry for shutting you out. It was just my boyfriend and he’s been quite forward about the fact that we haven’t had a lot of alone time. If you know what I mean.” He turned away from Jens, who was still in the midst of processing the information. “I’ll try to give you a more advanced warning if it ends up happening again.”

“It’s okay,” Jens replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I just didn’t know that you were into guys.”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we’ve never really talked about it.” There was a moment of silence between them as Lucas turned back to his phone and his sketches. Then, he paused, pivoting in his seat to stare back at Jens. “Do you have a problem with it? Me liking guys?” 

Jens shook his head, running a hand through the damp strands of his hair. “I don’t have a problem with you having a boyfriend or liking guys for that matter,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Whoever you decide that you want to sleep with is your business. Not mine. Just make sure that you don’t fuck in my bed, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” Lucas spoke up, making an obvious show of rolling his eyes. “I wouldn’t want to sleep on your nasty ass sheets let alone fuck in them.”

“Hey,” Jens remarked, turning serious as he pointed at Lucas’s shoulder. “My sheets are not _that_ bad.”

Lucas laughed, loud and sudden like it had been ripped from his chest. “Jens, have you cleaned your sheets since you’ve moved into the dorm?” 

“I’m doing laundry this weekend and my sheets were on the list,” Jens protested, pushing himself up from against his dresser to head across the dorm. He grabbed his towel from the hook on the back of their dorm door and tossed it over his shoulder. Placing his hand on the brass knob, he paused, turning back to Lucas who was watching him with an appreciative look in his eye. “You don’t need to police me about when I wash my sheets. I’m the one that is sleeping in the bed, not you.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Lucas replied, shaking his head. He turned back in his chair and made a vague direction toward the door to the hallway. “Go take a shower before there is a lake in our dorm room and we get some form of mold on the floor.” 

“Haha,” Jens spoke, mockingly but moving to follow his orders anyway. “But, I really don’t have a problem with you liking guys. In case, you’re still worried about it.” Lucas glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. Jens might’ve only known him a few months, but the two of them lived together and saw each other enough that Jens knew he was fishing for more information. “All I’m saying is that if I did have a problem with you liking guys, it would make me a hypocrite.”

The statement caught Lucas off-guard because his eyebrows raised and the calm, controlled look on his face quickly morphed into shock, questioning, “What do you mean?”

“I’m bisexual, Lucas,” Jens replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Before I moved here, I was in a relationship with a guy for a month or two. He didn’t think that we could do well with the long-distance or whatever so we broke things off.”

“You’re bisexual?” 

Jens smirked over at him, remarking, “We haven’t really talked about it.” There was a flash of a smug smile that crossed Lucas’s face. Smirking still, but it was almost something close to grinning, Jens escaped out of the dorm and headed in the direction of the showers, eager to get out of these clothes that were sticking to his skin.

* * *

From the moment that they stepped into the house, Jens doesn’t have a single clue as to how the group of them managed to get invited to this party.

The entire two-story house was filled to the brim, at maximum capacity, so much so that it was hard to move around. The lights in the living room were dimmed down and had flashed brightly, alternating lights that changed with the beat of the music. At the helm, there was a guy with platinum blond hair and a leather jacket that would make an obvious point of staring in their direction. There were dancing couples in the middle of the living room, beer pong in the backyard, and he was sure that he saw the party thrower, Senne De Smet, disappear into the other room with a girl with short white-blond hair, trying to look secretive about the whole thing. 

The seven of them (or, well, eight counting Isa) were sandwiched in the corner of the kitchen. There was a small inlet that looked into the living room and the dancing party and the crowd. Jens was leaning against the counter, nursing the drink concoction in his hand, and Lucas was beside him, having pushed himself up on the counter a while ago and using Jens’ shoulder as an armrest. Lucas was texting someone, presumably his boyfriend, and the rest of them were chatting about what they would be doing at the skatepark the next day. Even hungover, they always tried to keep their skating Saturdays up. 

“You promise to be on your best behavior,” Lucas spoke up. 

It took a nudge to his ear and realizing that all six of their friends (and a sly grin on Isa’s face) were looking at him to realize that the statement was directed at _him._ Jens turned and glanced up at Lucas, who still had his arm on Jens’ shoulder. There was a serious look crossing his features, but Jens could pinpoint the teasing note in his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” Jens promised, turning back to the group and taking a sip of his drink. “I’ll do my best to be nice to _Mr. Threatened_. As long as he promises to do the same.” 

Aaron raised his hand, comically managing to look like the confused student in a classroom. “ _Mr.Threatened_?” 

Lucas let out a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes. He shoved Jens’ head to the side lightly and nudged his side with his knee. “Look what you did. Now, you’ve got the rest of them calling him by that ridiculous nickname now.” 

“Hey, last time I checked, you didn’t think that it was a ridiculous nickname, considering the fact that you muffled your laughter the first time I said it,” Jens defended, turning back to the group. Isa let out a giggle as she snuggled further into Kes’s side and Jens attempted to ignore the knowing glance that Robbe had sent his way. “Besides, it’s not _my_ fault that he feels so threatened by me. Just because I’m bisexual doesn’t mean that I’m going to be sleeping with you anytime soon.” 

“Wait,” Moyo spoke. “Who’s sleeping with who?”

“No one is sleeping with anyone,” Jens remarked. “Except, maybe Isa and Kes and Robbe whenever he decides that he can have a social life without compromising his grades.” As Kes and Isa let out a unison laugh, Robbe chunked his empty cup at Jens’s head, but it missed and bounced off his shoulder without any real force. “But, anyway, Lucas’s boyfriend feels threatened by me.”

“Why?” Moyo questioned.

“Because I’m bisexual and his roommate.”

“So?” Robbe spoke up.

“Thank you!”

Jens didn’t even need to look up at Lucas to know that he was rolling his eyes.

“Wait?” Jayden spoke up. The guy in question was resting against the small windowsill in the kitchen, half-leaning out of it with a cigarette in his fingers. There was an obvious dazed look on his face as his eyes flickered around to all of them before landing on Jens. “You’re bi? Really?” he questioned, sounding almost amazed and in awe. 

“Yeah?” 

“Woah, that’s awesome, dude,” Jayden spoke. The group of them laughed loudly as Jayden simply stared at the group of them with a confused look on his features. 

Grinning widely, Isa hopped off the counter and pulled at Kes’s sleeve. Despite not giving any directions about where they were going, Kes still tilted in her direction, following her willingly out of the kitchen and around the corner. Before they disappeared completely, Jens spotted the girl wrapping her arms around his shoulder and tilting her chin up to demand a kiss which Kes gave her eagerly as they fully disappeared. Once the two of them had disappeared, Jayden jumped out of the sink and announced that he was going outside to play beer pong. Aaron and Moyo followed after him, dragging a perplexed Robbe along with them, and leaving Jens alone with Lucas. 

There was a considerable length of silence as Lucas typed another message into his phone, the device letting out light clicks with each tap of his fingers. 

“You deserve better,” Jens announced suddenly. Lucas glanced up at him, his blue eyes connecting with Jens’ brown ones. “If he feels threatened by me, it means that he doesn’t trust you enough. And, everyone deserves to be with someone that trusts them completely.” 

Lucas nodded his head, smirking at him. “You know that he wouldn’t be as threatened by you if you weren’t so pretty.”

“Oh,” Jens spoke up, grinning over him. He tried to ignore the way that his heart began to thump in his chest and how Lucas smirked over at him, as though he could read Jens’ mind. “So, you think I’m pretty?”

“And, so what if I do?” Lucas remarked. The blond shoved his phone in his pocket and jumped off the counter with a defined precision. Running his palms along the fabric of his denim jeans, he turned to Jens and smirked up at him, “Just because I think that you’re pretty doesn’t mean that I will be sleeping with you.”

“That’s true,” Jens replied. “You still deserve better though.”

Lucas let out a sigh. “Yeah, maybe,” he replied, a little mumbled. Jens glanced over at him as he ran a nervous hand through his curls. 

For a moment, the silence drew on between them as the party around them grew louder and louder, the silence deafening the music and the noise. Lucas looked like he was going to say something, looking up at Jens nervously with his blue eyes darting around. But, whatever Lucas had wanted to say, Jens never got the chance to hear.

The girl from his communications class came bouncing around the corner. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head. She was wearing a pair of fitting skinny jeans and a top that was tight across her chest. Her makeup was exceptionally done with a neutral shade of pink lipstick and she seemed completely unaware that she had accidentally interrupted a conversation between them. “Hi, Jens!”

“Hi,” Jens grinned down at her. 

“I’ll see you later,” Lucas remarked, nodding in the direction of the front door. Lucas grinned briefly at the girl before moving towards the door that Isa and Kes disappeared through, that lead in the direction of the front door. As he stepped through the archway, he shot a glance at Jens over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner completely.

* * *

After the guy with the platinum hair and leather jacket had been switched out for a dark-haired girl with a septum piercing and red lipstick, the girl from his communication class had managed to drag him into the living room where the party had begun to have an impromptu dance party. The mass of bodies in the middle of the dance floor had made it hard to move. But, Jens and the girl had found a spot in the corner of the room, a little out of the way, enough room for them to be close enough without having to scream at each other over the loud boom of the bass. 

As the song twisted from a slower beat of a pop song to the fast beat of a rock song that would’ve made half the group start banging their head, the girl from his communications class looked up at him through her long eyelashes, grabbed his arm lightly, and stood on her toes to press their lips together. The softness of the kiss quickly got amped up, her manicured nails pressing a little harder against his bicep and the flesh on the back of his neck, and she tugged him down further against her lips. 

The entire kiss, the entire scenario, felt mechanical and rehearsed, like every other kiss that Jens had ever had before. Their lips moved against one another in a rhythmic fashion together, pulling then pushing and back again, over and over like a top refusing to stop. One of her hands was in his hair, cradling the back of his head like it was something on the verge of breaking, and the other was the bicep of the arm that was wrapped around her waist. The kiss was nice and sweet, but mechanic and rehearsed, one movement to the next and then to the next and the next.

Without knowing the full reason, without being fully aware of it, Jens opened his eyes, looking around the room, searching out for _someone_ but he wasn’t sure who. His eyes skirted over bodies and the DJ and those passing through the living room on the way to the dining room. Jens took in the bright purple lights on either side of the booth that was slowly shifting to a light shade of blue. His eyes skirted over the room, moving back to the girl that he was kissing, back to this mechanical, almost rehearsed kiss, before landing on someone in the middle of the room, illuminated by the bright lights of the room.

Lucas.

The blond was wrapped in the arms of Mr. Threatened, one hand bracing the back of his head, the other gripping onto his shoulder. Beneath the illuminated blue light, Lucas’s blond hair shined like a halo of light and surrounding him in a bright glow that made him stand out from the crowd around him. His sweater, a black one that he eventually decided upon, had made him stand out in the crowd of white and grays and reds. 

But, those weren’t what caught his attention. 

Wrapped up in Mr. Threatened’s embrace, his lips were pressed tightly together, pushing and pulling against the slightly taller man in question. But, his eyes, which were wide and open, were pointed away from Mr. Threatened and directed squarely at one thing.

Him.

From the moment that Jens’ brown eyes locked with Lucas’s blue ones, the ones that still managed to stand out in the busyness of the room around him, the ones that stared back a little confused before the tips of his lips _almost_ turned up into a smirk, around _them_ , Jens knew that they had stepped on an invisible line that separated their friendship, their roommate-ship, from something drastically different, something drastically _more._ And, the longer that they held their gaze, the longer that they stared into each other’s eyes as they kissed someone else, the further that they stepped over that line into unknown territory where their relationship, their _whatever_ was drastically more uncertain and blurry with each passing minute. 

Lucas turned them a little so their eyes could stay locked together. 

Jens pushed open his partner’s mouth with his lips and a shiver ran down his spine when Lucas did the exact same thing. Lucas reached up to hold the back of Mr. Threatened’s head, fisting his fingers in the ponytail that he had worn, and Jens timed it so he would hold the back of hers at the same time that Mr. Threatened mirrored Lucas’s action. Somehow, Lucas managed to tug on Mr. Threatened’s hair at the same time that the girl from his communication class got brave and tugged on his hair and Jens _swore_ that his eyes were about to roll in the back of his head.

There was a part of Jens that knew it was wrong, that knew that the girl in his communication class didn’t deserve any of this, that Mr. Threatened definitely had every right to be threatened. But, his body half-acted on its own accord, the kisses continuing to be rhythmic, gripping at her sides, and staring down Lucas, their eyes connected and disconnected. Then, there was the other part of him that wanted something different, that wanted to separate his kiss with the girl in his arms, march over and push Mr. Threatened away, press his lips to Lucas’s, lead him-

Jens’ overactive and speeding mind came to a skidding halt as the bright white lights above them flickered on, blinding him temporarily as he forced his eyes shut, taking a step back from the girl in his arms. He could hear the sound of her voice, the murmured chatter around them of people trying to figure out what was going on, and he could hear the gruff sound of a man saying, “Hello everyone, where is Senne De Smet?” 

After his eyes adjusted to the light, Jens managed to open his eyes. The girl in his arms was looking at him curiously and worriedly and his mouth managed to fire off an excuse that seemed to have worked because she nodded her head, smiling up at him before twisting to see the commotion. As Mr. Threatened turned to look, Jens spotted Lucas’s eyes over his shoulder, staring directly at him, and there was an electric spark that fired through his body like a touched wire, lighting up every nerve ending.

Somewhere, a door slammed shut, startling both of them and breaking their eye contact. 

“I’m right here, Detective Driesen!” The brunet in question had stepped out of the den that Jens saw him slipping into when he had first arrived at the party. He was alone, but his clothes were slightly rumbled and he had bright red lipstick marks around his face. Despite his appearance and the fact that he was partially wheezing, he managed to convey a charming smile, grinning up at the detective. “I didn’t realize that you were on the night shift this week. But, you don’t have to worry. The party is _over_.”

There was a slight groan from the group but people started filing out the door when the music abruptly cut off and the DJ moved in the direction of the backyard. The cop in question, who was talking with Senne De Smet, had his back turned to her and didn’t notice that she made an abrupt sprint out of the room. 

“Is my son here?” the man questioned.

“Your son?” Senne questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. “Sander isn’t here. He’s working on some big project or something. I don’t know too much about it. You know how Sander is when it comes to his work.”

“It’s past midnight and he _lives_ here, Senne.”

“Come on,” the girl spoke, dragging Jens’ attention back to her. The girl took a step closer to him, looking up at him through her eyelashes and smiled sweetly at him. Trying to fight his need to look in the direction of Lucas, to find him or any of the others, Jens kept his eyes trained on her face. He could still pinpoint a muffled argument as the group dispersed around him. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t,” Jens admitted. “I’ve got to find Robbe. My friend. I was his ride.”

He wasn’t. But, they were supposed to walk back to the dorms together and…

“Oh okay,” the girl spoke, sounding disappointed. “Next time?” 

Jens couldn’t get his mouth to form the words so he simply nodded his head and a delighted grin formed over her face. She stood up on her toes to press a featherlight kiss against his lips before escaping into the crowd headed out of the house. She sent a grin over her shoulder before she disappeared completely. Jens felt something form in the pit of his stomach before his eyes automatically sought out Lucas again, finding him rooted in the same spot. 

Only this time, his gaze was focused squarely on Mr. Threatened (though, Jens was certain that he should really come up with a new nickname). There was a small smile on his face. His lips were bruised and puffed, leftover evidence of the intense make-out session that they just had on the dance floor. With the lights back on, the brunet had an arm wrapped low on Lucas’s waist. With a smooth, suggestive tilt of Mr. Threatened’s head and a smug smirk on his face, he guided Lucas across the living room and in the direction of the front door.

But, Mr. Threatened didn’t notice that Lucas snuck a glance over his shoulder at Jens, a cautionary glance that searched Jens’s face, and their eyes connected again, brown connecting with blue, an electric spark passing through the wire between them. And, then, he disappeared around the corner as though nothing had happened between them. It was almost like Jens had imagined it all. 

_Just because I’m bisexual doesn’t mean that I’m sleeping with you anytime soon._

Jens might not have slept with Lucas, but…

He had definitely thought about it now.

* * *

Lucas was gone all weekend. 

All weekend, his bed in the dorm was empty and meticulously kept clean. He didn’t show up at the skate park on Saturday for their weekly skateboarding competition. He didn’t show up on Sunday, not even for his charger and a change of clothes. It got to the point that Jens was beginning to wonder if his roommate was avoiding him, not wanting to talk about the invisible line that they had crossed at the party. Jens thought about texting him, but every time he tried to think of a text, he couldn’t.

But, when Lucas collapsed in the empty seat on his right side in the cafeteria with a tray full of food, Jens found the answer to what he was looking for, the answer as to why he was gone for such a long period of time without explanation. 

“I broke up with him,” Lucas announced, sitting down in the chair. 

“Huh?” Kes spoke.

“I broke up with him,” Lucas repeated. After a brief moment of silence with no reaction, he rolled his eyes and clarified, “Mr. Threatened.” 

While the rest of them let out a chorus of “Oh”s, Jens turned towards Lucas who was placing his backpack on the floor and questioned, “Really?” 

“Yeah,” Lucas remarked. “He managed to convince me to stay the day Saturday, claiming that we never got to spend time together. Then, on Sunday, we fought for a little bit because he wanted me to stay and I needed to do homework. Then, he tried to convince me to spend the night tonight and claimed that he didn’t trust you and wanted me to request a new roommate.”

“What?” Jens questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“Sounds like a dumbass to me,” Moyo spoke up, which was followed by three affirmations. 

“Yeah,” Lucas remarked, shifting in his seat. Beneath the table, something brushed against Jens’s knee and he flinched unexpectedly. “But, apparently, he didn’t have enough trust in me.” 

Lucas tucked his left hand beneath the table and something warm brushed against Jens’ knee, keeping it steady. Lucas’s hand. There was a momentary glance in Jens’ direction, a silent question that felt like _is this alright_. When Jens didn’t pull his knee out of his grasp or disconnect their eyes, Lucas shifted a little and something pressed up against his knee, _Lucas’s_ knee, Jens realized a moment later. After a few moments, Lucas nudged him and Jens pressed back without hesitation, flushing their knees against one another. 

Lucas retracted his hand from Jens' knee, running it through his hair as he continued. “When he asked me to request a new roommate, I dumped him on the spot and blocked his number in Bio when he sent me about a dozen half-assed apology texts. I’m not about to have my boyfriend of barely a month think that he can control who I hang out with simply because he’s insecure.”

“Yeah,” Robbe spoke up, taking a drink of his soda and using a french fry as a pointer. “It’s one thing to be insecure. It’s another thing to try and control who your boyfriend hangs out with. You deserve a lot better than Mr. Threatened.”

“Thanks, Robbe.” 

“More like Mr. Dumped,” Aaron spoke up.

There was a release of groans and a chorus of “Aaron!”, and a laugh from Jens that was practically ripped from his chest, slipping past all of his defenses. While Lucas was simultaneously trying to smother his laughter behind his hand, he sent Jens a small warning look and Jens shook his head, shoving another fry in his mouth. 

* * *

“Haha, I’m going to win this one, Stoffels!” 

“No, you’re not!”

Outside their dorm room window, the gentle rain beat down on the glass, providing a light background track to the relentless sounds of videogames coming from the television on Jens’ dresser. The pair of them were propped up on Lucas’s bed, the only two controllers grasped in their hands, and they were half-leaning off the twin-bed in an attempt to get closer to the screen, as if two inches closer would somehow propel the other to victory. 

The day was quiet, the gentle rain beating down on the glass of their single solitary window, muffled only by the loud soundtrack of their two karts going round and round on a virtual track. The two of them were half-perched on Lucas’s bed, half-leaning on the edge with the only two controllers grasped firmly in their hands. Lucas nudged Jens’ shoulder with his elbow and Jens pushed him away. 

Despite it being a Saturday, the day had been practically quiet between them. While normally, they might’ve spent all afternoon at the skatepark with all of their friends, Jens and Lucas had been the only ones that had actually ended up going this morning. Heading to the station together, Kes, Moyo, and Jayden had all headed home for the weekend. In contrast, Robbe was studying for a midterm on Monday, and Aaron was so hungover that he had simply attempted to slap them away when they went to wake him up. As a result, the two of them had been alone at the skatepark, showing off and laughing and almost falling over from laughing so hard. 

Since the party, since Lucas had broken up with Mr. Threatened since Lucas had reached out to grab Jens’s leg and brush their knees together, the two have them had gotten impossible closer. As roommates and friends, the two of them had already been pretty close and Jens felt like he knew him better than the rest of the Broerrrs (not counting Kes and Jayden). 

But, he meant, _physically_ closer. 

In addition to living in a barely manageable dorm room together, the two of them had practically lost all sense of personal boundaries. Simply out of happenstance or what, the two of them would sit next to each other, walk down a hallway with virtually no space between them, and their knees would constantly be pressed against each other under the table. Whenever Jens would hand him something or vice versa, their hands would linger over the others, fingers coiled around the other briefly, half-purposely, half-accidentally. Even alone at the skate park, with only a handful of Saturday morning regulars, it was heightened and magnified ten-times over, and Jens was uncertain about if he had ever been so close to Lucas or if it had the same effect on Lucas as it was having on him. 

But, once the sky had decided to lightly sprinkle rain on them, the two of them had collected their skateboards and sprinted back to the dorm, barely managing to make it safely inside before it started a torrential downpour, almost a flood of rainwater onto the dreary campus. Back in their dorm, they changed into sweats and hoodies, their hair still half damp, still buzzed from the adrenaline of racing back to campus, but the ability to study was still far from their thoughts. 

Which, is how they ended up here, in an impromptu Mario Kart tournament that Jens was currently winning.

“Ha!” Jens declared as he crossed the finish line three spaces ahead of Lucas. The boy beside him let out a groan, leaning back against the wall and grudgingly getting his character over the finish line. Once he had succeeded and his character was rejoicing, he tossed his controller onto the bed beside him and stared at the television screen with a semi-frustrated pout.

Then, his eyes flickered over to Jens and he declared, “All or nothing.”

“What?”

“All or nothing.”

“Lucas, we just completed the _fifth_ all or nothing and I won every single one of them.”

“I don’t care. You cheated!”

“I didn’t cheat. I’m just better than you are.”

“Fine,” Lucas groaned, rolling his eyes but there’s a small grin turning up at the corner of his lips. Jens grinned over triumphantly at him and raised his eyebrows as he waited for Lucas to continue. The blond let out a heavy sigh and ceded, “You win.” 

“Thank you,” Jens spoke, grinning wildly over at him. Lucas rolled his eyes as Jens settled back against the wall behind Lucas’s bed. Beside him, Lucas shifted slightly and their knees were pressed together again. It had become one of their many habits that had developed in the weeks since the party, sitting closer to each other than they normally would, their knees being flushed against one another. As Lucas settled, their arms pressed together too and somehow the entire motion felt on purpose and Jens found absolutely no reason that he could complain. It was only the two of them on Lucas’s bed and they were so close together but, somehow, it didn’t feel close _enough_ , like somehow Lucas should be even _closer_. 

“So,” Jens spoke, swallowing and half-turning his head in the direction of his roommate. Beside him, Lucas had his arms crossed over his chest and was pretending to look frustrated that he had lost yet again. “What did we end up deciding that the winner of this little competition was going to get?”

Lucas glanced at him. A small, cunning smile turning up his lips, and completely managing to drag the path of Jens’ eyes from his own to his lips. When Jens managed to tear his eyes away, back up to the bright blue eyes that Lucas possessed, he was shocked (or was he?) to find that Lucas was also blatantly staring at his own lips as well. Curious, Jens sucked his lips in, running his tongue over the flesh. Lucas sucked in a breath, glancing around the room before returning his gaze to Jens, their eyes connecting again. 

“No, I don’t think we did,” Lucas managed, his voice a little hoarse as he shifted on the bed beside him. 

And, then, he kissed Jens. 

_Hard_. 

When their lips connected, hard and fast and practically _bruising_ , Jens let out a grunt which was mostly muffled by Lucas’s lips. He was temporarily caught off-guard, temporarily paused, because he hadn’t been expecting it. Or rather, he was _mostly_ not expecting it but he desperately wanted it to happen, had wanted it to happen since that party when it _felt_ like they were kissing each other when they weren’t. But, he was equally unexpecting the force in which their lips collided, like two vehicles crashing and molding together with the force of their collision, the wreckage of twisted metal left in its wake. 

Lucas leaned back, their lips disconnecting and Jens felt himself lean after him, chasing after the brush of his lips, and Jens’ eyes fluttered open to stare at him. Lucas’s eyes were open, staring at him worriedly, maybe a little insecurely, like he was worried that he had done something wrong, like he was worried he made a wrong move. Reaching up, Jens cupped the side of Lucas’s face and the latter tilted gently into his touch, his blue eyes flickering up to stare into his eyes before flickering briefly down to his lips. Then, Jens pulled him closer by the back of the neck, dragging their lips together again, fiercely and quickly and _finally_.

Somehow, the second kiss was harder than the first, more push than pull, more give than take. 

There was a sense of urgency in this kiss, like if they stopped now they wouldn’t kiss again, that something like this would never happen again, and that they never wanted it to end. Jens clung desperately to the curls at the nape of Lucas’s neck. Lucas shifted against him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders as he straddled his waist and settled against his thighs. One of Lucas’s hands slipped into the strands of Jens’ hair, pulling and tugging on the strands and purposely sending an electric jolt of pleasure down his spine. Jens kiss Lucas eagerly, pushing opening his mouth with his lips. 

Jens’ free hand dropped to Lucas’s hip, holding him tight against his body, until there was hardly any space between them. Lucas pulled at Jens’ hair again, harder than the time before, and Jens felt himself grip his hips a little tighter, harder than he meant to. Lucas released a half-broken moan, muffled barely by the press of their lips, as he pressed down harder against him, rolling their hips together. 

“Shit, Luc,” Jens groaned, barely managing to stop the moan. He could feel it vibrate in his throat, tickling the flesh of his skin. There was a dark, almost smug look that briefly flared in Lucas’s eyes before, and Jens realized it the second before it happened, he ground down on him again. The movement was more sure of himself and the light moan that Jens couldn’t control caused a smirk to appear on his face, turning up his lips. 

“Yeah?” Lucas questioned. 

A challenge. 

Jens surged forward, pressing their lips together heatedly. Lucas clung to him tightly, kissing him back in earnest and enthusiastically, opening his mouth up and slipping his tongue behind his lips. Jens gripped tighter onto his head, sliding his hand down to his thigh before he spun, pivoting them so Lucas was flat against the bed, his legs wrapped loosely around Jens’ waist. There was a laugh that was ripped from Lucas’s chest as he landed against the bed before it was muffled by their lips being pressed back together again, slotting together and pushing and pulling, leisurely and frantic all at once. 

One of Lucas’s hands unclenched from his hair, sliding down his arm, across his chest, down to the waistband of Jens’ own sweats. For a second, his hand faltered as Jens let out a light gasp and kissed him harder, paused for a fraction of a second. Then, his fingers pulled at the elastic band, drawing it away from the skin of Jens’ waist, and his hand disappeared, trailing down his skin, tracing an intricate path down and _down_ in his sweatpants. “Lucas,” Jens gasped out, half a warning.

“Yes, Jens?” Lucas questioned, raising an eyebrow with a smug smirk on his face as he stared up at him.

“Are you sure about this?”

Lucas raised an eyebrow, his lips turning up further and his hand getting a little lower. “Do you want me to stop?” 

Jens gave him a look, knowing that he didn’t _need_ to answer the question because the evidence was there, literally in the palm of his hand. Lucas pushed himself up, pressing their lips back together, and opens his mouth against his own. Jens leaned over him, pushing his tongue in the open gap of his mouth and feeling the vibrations of the resulting groan against his lips. “You didn’t answer my question,” Jens remarked, barely pulling away from where their lips were joined, unable to back away any further.

“Yes, Jens,” Lucas sighed, partially sounding like he was rolling his eyes. His hand drifted lower, finding the sensitive area that made an involuntary moan be ripped past Jens’ defenses, and Lucas’s mouth swallowed the moan eagerly, pulling him closer and kissing him deeper and fiercer. “I’m sure about this.” Jens grinned, kissing him again, tugging on his curls and pressing down further against him. 

* * *

The proverbial line that roommates should never, _ever_ cross had officially been _sprinted_ over. 

It was a line that two of them had been toying with since the party. It was a line that they had cautiously stepped over in the pounding lights of Senne De Smet’s living room, the line that they kept inching over with every lingering or drawn-out touch of their hands and knees and the looks that they shared. But, from the moment that their lips crashed together, moving and melting together like molten steel, once they started reaching beneath clothes, stripping apart the layers of fabric of sweats and hoodies to reveal the warm skin beneath, dragging their lips and hands over every piece of uncovered flesh that they had found, every bump or asphalt burn scar that they accumulated beneath their clothes, they had become buried deep in the zone of no return, unable to return back to what their roommateship had been previously. 

With Lucas, one kiss turned into the next and into the one after that, lips moving and pushing against the other between breathless groans and moans. It was easy to get lost in his kiss and the touches that they shared, building higher and higher on a high that they were chasing. In the end, the two of them fell hard, crashing down from their high, gripping tightly to the other’s hair, groaning against the other’s mouth. The two of them had laid together on Lucas’s in contentment, staring at the other with wide-blown eyes and bruised lips. 

Then, Lucas leaned over, pressing their lips together, and Jens kissed him back just as eagerly, pulling him against him tighter, and they fell into the same cycle again.

And, then once more. 

Once Jens had woken up the next morning, half-bathed in sweat, and moved to take a shower, they had spent the majority of that Sunday pretending that nothing had happened. They had casually had conversations in the comfort of their dorm, met up with Robbe and Aaron for lunch temporarily in the cafeteria before they all went their separate ways, and had run into the remaining three in the lobby of their dorm. Throughout each encounter, none of them managed to notice the lingering bruises on Jens’ neck, the lingering marks from Lucas’s lips, only partially obscured by his maroon hoodie. 

However, as they were headed to the elevator, Kes had spotted on the heavy purple bruise on Lucas’s collar bone. It had been mostly obscured by the navy blue sweater that he had worn, but it had dipped down and exposed the corner of it. Kes had reached out and pulled the sweater a little down to expose the heavy bruise on the flesh where his shoulder met his neck, the spot where Jens had used a little more teeth than he had intended, to lost in the intense pleasure of one of their times together. 

Kes had grinned over at Lucas, “You must’ve had a good night.”

“I did, thank you,” Lucas remarked without a spare glance in Jens’ direction.

“You should tell him to use less teeth next time.”

Lucas grinned at him, one of those Chesire Cat grins of his that curled up his face and made him look like he was up to no good, almost like he was plotting something evil or diabolical. “If I did that, it wouldn’t be any fun.” Kes rolled his eyes, lightly slapping the side of his face and heading to the cafeteria with Moyo and Jayden. Lucas glanced over at Jens, raising his eyebrows before moving to the elevator as it opened. 

Once the door was closed, the swooping in his stomach increasing for a few seconds, Jens reached out and snagged the collar of Lucas’s collar, tugging it down. Lucas’s bright blue eyes followed his movements, trying to tilt his head down to see what Jens was looking at. Once he realized, he looked up with a bright grin and raised an eyebrow. “Admiring your handiwork?” 

There it was. 

Through the past several hours, since they had woken up, they had acted like yesterday hadn't even happened, like they didn’t cross every boundary that a roommate, especially one who is _literally_ sharing the same space, normally wouldn’t. They had laughed at each other’s jokes, pretended that nothing had changed, and had practically refused to acknowledge it at all. It had happened, of course, and the evidence was there on their bodies, the memory ingrained in their minds, but they hadn’t talked about it.

Until now. 

“Just looks a little worse than it did earlier,” Jens commented, placing the sweater back over it.

Lucas glanced up at him. There was a nervous look that crossed over his face, his eyes darting across Jens’s face before settling down on his lips. “Do you wish that we didn’t do it?” he questioned. The elevator rose higher and higher, closer to their destination. When Jens didn’t answer, Lucas questioned, “Do you wish that I didn’t kiss you?” 

Jens shook his head. “No.”

“So,” Lucas started before he paused. The nervous look was still present on his face. “You wanted it to happen?”

There was no hesitation as Jens replied, “Yes.” There was a drawn-out beat between them, the silence growing, as the elevator raised closer to its eventual destination. Jens glanced over at Lucas, who was still standing against the wall of the elevator. Jens pushed himself off the wall, stepping closer to his companion in the elevator. Lucas’s bright blue eyes watched him the entire way until Jens was so close that he could’ve leaned forward and kissed him. “Did you?”

Lucas glanced down, his eyes landing on Jens’ lips, before he breathed out, “Yes.” 

And, just like that, something snapped between them. 

As soon as the two of them were locked in the safety of their dorm room, their lips were back against the other, hands grasping at clothes and hair. Jens was shoving Lucas back against the former’s desk, their backpacks falling to the floor, and Jens was almost certain that his own bag toppled over, spilling its contents onto the floor. But, he didn’t care about his notes, all he cared about was Lucas’s hands on his jaw and his teeth dragging down on a vein, he would care about his notes in an hour when he fell from the high and realized that his English notes were folded on the corners. But, for now, he didn’t care about that, just Lucas’s legs around his waist as he lifted him from the desk, moving them to his bed.

 _“Ugh, not your nasty ass sheets!”_

And, then, it happened again the next week in the midst of Lucas hitting himself over the head at his desk over an upcoming project that he had come up. When Jens had returned home from his three-hour-long lecture with a professor that made his eyes roll in the back of his head and always managed to give him a headache, Lucas was still working on the portion of a project, his face buried deep in his computer as he scrolled through the _fifth_ academic article that he needed to find something to quote in his paper. Jens had made a casual remark about needing to destress and Lucas was about halfway through a long lecture about how he _couldn’t_ stop to destress right now because he really, _really_ needed to read this article when he turned towards Jens, stopping mid-sentence and staring at him. Then: 

“Why the fuck did you choose to wear that hoodie?”

“What? What’s wrong with it?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Lucas had barely hesitated for a second before he was out of his seat, closing his laptop with a flourish and a snap, and practically _stomping_ over to him, grabbing at the hemline of his hoodie while Jens was still trying to figure out what was going on. “Other than the fact it’s not on the fucking floor.” 

And then again, once Jens had returned back from seeing his family in Antwerp for the weekend. Lucas had just been sitting on his bed, playing Mario Kart with his feet propped up on his nightstand. He was dressed in a pair of shorts and a button-up flowered shirt that was half-undone. When the door shut and Jens tossed his duffle bag over to the desk, Lucas glanced over at Jens slightly like he didn’t know what he was doing. Even though Jens had only been gone one and a half days, the kiss and the following sex felt like something of a reunion, wrapped in each other’s arms and holding each other tightly, pressing bruises into their skin.

Even in the weeks that followed, Jens wasn’t certain about what they _are._ It was something that they hadn’t defined yet or hadn’t taken a moment to even figure out. Between moments where they were kissing, ripping at each other’s clothes, with wandering hands, the two of them were friends. They still hung out with their friends on Saturdays, still played video games on their off-days, still teased, and messed with each other. Jens isn’t quite sure what their relationship has morphed into, but he was not about to ask questions. 

And, he had been _far_ past the point of wanting to stop from the moment that their lips met.

* * *

It was one of the few days that Lucas hadn’t sat with the Broerrrs in what felt like ages. When Lucas had entered, he had spotted them first, wrapped up in a heated debate about something or another, and Kes had called him over from a table a little further away from them. When Lucas had trotted over and taken a seat opposite of Kes and Isa, beside Jayden who was scarfing down his food before he had to leave for one of his lectures, Kes had explained that the Broerrrs hadn’t seen them once they had initially sat down. 

The Broerrrs were sitting at a small table by the north entrance to the cafeteria. Robbe was constantly having to shove his growing curls away from his eyes and Aaron was sitting across from him, recalling a story that required the use of one-hundred-and-five percent of his arms. Moyo was half-turned, laughing at whatever story that Jens was telling, his head thrown back. Jens sat across from him, one arm wrapped around Robbe as he listened, his hair pushed back and wearing that _goddamned maroon hoodie_ and-

“There he goes again,” Kes spoke up, pulling Lucas from his thoughts. Kes glanced at Isa, who had her feet propped up in his lap, her hand in his curls, and her eyes giving Lucas a knowing look. Lucas thought that Isa was a little too perceptive for her own good… and that she was rubbing off on Kes a little _too_ much for his liking. “Fantasizing about sleeping with his roommate.”

Isa’s brown eyes grew as wide as her matching grin, “Really? You’ve been fantasizing about sleeping with Jens?” She pivoted in her seat to stare in the direction of the Broerrrs table and Lucas couldn’t help following her gaze. Jens was still sitting there, laughing and teasing Aaron about something. “I can totally see it. He’s _absolutely_ your type.” 

“Oh, yea? What’s my type, Ies?” Lucas challenged, grinning. 

Isa raised an eyebrow and grinned. 

“You need to stop staring off into space and fantasizing about him,” Kes advised, seriously. Lucas raised an eyebrow and Kes continued. “He’s bound to notice that you keep spacing out around him and staring at him eventually.” Personally, Lucas didn’t think so because he hadn’t been noticing for months and that was _before_ they started having sex on a semi-regular basis. “Jens is smart and he’s bound to notice eventually.” 

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “Chill, would you? I’m not fantasizing about sleeping with my roommate.”

“Good,” Kes started, sounding serious. Isa laughed, rolling her eyes lovingly and stealing the chips on Kes’s almost-abandoned plate. “Because, if things get weird between you and Jens, it’s going to weird for all of us and you know how much I enjoy our Saturday morning competitions-”

“Yes, Kes, I know,” Lucas interrupted, mirroring his seriousness. “But, I promise I’m not fantasizing about sleeping with my roommate.” Kes moved to speak, or challenge the words that he had said, but Lucas quickly added before he could stop himself, “I’m _sleeping_ with my roommate. There’s a difference between those two scenarios and far as I can tell, none of you have noticed.”

Kes blinked at him and Isa glanced between them. Finally, his best friend managed to get out. “You’re what?” 

“Sleeping with my roommate,” Lucas repeated. 

“Since when?”

“Like a month ago?”

“What?”

“Really?” Isa spoke up, interested. She reached out to snag one of the grapes that Lucas had gotten and popped it in her mouth with a smile on her face. “I had noticed that the two of you seemed a little more touchy lately. But, I just assumed that it was something that came with being roommates for so long.”

“Wait,” Kes spoke up. He glanced back over to the Broerrrs, who all erupted into a continuous on-stream of laughter over something that Aaron had said, before Kes’ gaze was back on him, his voice dropping low as he said, “Are you being serious right now? You and Jens are actually sleeping together? And have been for at least a month?”

“Yes,” Lucas replied, popping another grape in his mouth. There’s another long moment of pause before Lucas glanced up at Kes, muttering, “Why?”

“Because, that’s not you, Luc,” Kes spoke, leaning forward. Somehow, his face had looked more serious than it had been before, shifting from happy, go-lucky Kes to stone-faced Kes. Even as his best friend and Isa shared a weighted glance, the serious look continued to be etched onto his features. “Luc, being someone’s secret has never been your thing.”

“I’m not Jens’ secret, Kes. I’m no one’s secret,” Lucas stated. “It’s just sex and that’s all there is to it.”

Kes shook his head, running a hand over his face. “Sex is never just sex, Luc. There’s always something else beneath it. Especially with you. You’ve always been the one to wear your heart on your sleeve. You always calculate your moves before you do something.” Lucas grabbed another grape and forced it past his lips. He bit down into it and avoided Kes’s eyes. “Sex is never just sex. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I appreciate it, Kes,” Lucas remarked, meeting his eyes. He could see the well-meaning concern in his best friend’s eyes. He could even see the mirroring look in Isa’s eyes as she took another grape from him. “But it’s just sex. Both to him and to me. It’s nothing more, nothing less.” 

Then, Lucas went back to his food and hastily changed the subject to Isa’s upcoming group project that she’s been stressing about. The girl at the table, and his long-time friend, took pity on him and launched into a story about how her group hadn’t even managed to nail down a topic let alone manage an outline. Her story managed to deter Kes from continuing. In addition, it brought Lucas a needed distraction from their previous conversation. He knew that Kes was completely right to be worried, and about the fact that sex was never _just_ sex, but whatever it was that he and Jens had was simply that: _sex_. 

Lucas didn’t convince his oldest friends.

Hell, Lucas wasn’t even sure that he managed to convince himself. 

* * *

“Back here?” He paused, glancing around at the group of guys (and Isa) around him. When Jens’s brown eyes met the blue ones of Lucas, the latter gave him a simple shrug for an answer. “Again? How do we keep getting invited to Senne De Smet’s parties? Does someone have an _in_ with him that I am completely unaware of?” Robbe shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and headed up the stone steps to the front door while the rest of them trailing behind them. 

The two-story house in front of them belonged to Senne De Smet and it seemed to be decorated to the brim with Christmas decorations. There was a green tree that was could be seen in the front window with cookie-cutter silver and blue ornaments on the tree. There was garland across the gutters and bright fairy lights that were wrapped up in the bushes. It looked like a house on the front of a Christmas magazine. But, that didn’t stop the raving party that seemed to be going on inside or the pounding music or the flashing lights from the living room. It was the final party of the semester before the university campus temporarily became a ghost town between the Christmas holidays and they all went home. 

One final hurrah. 

Stepping into the foyer, there were two platinum-haired people lightly arguing in the doorway. One of them was a tall guy with a leather jacket and a shirt with a band that he didn’t know the name of. The other was a girl with her hair tied into braids. When they entered the party, and the guy’s eyes glanced over to them, the girl pivoted and her face broke into a grin, moving towards them. Namely, Robbe. 

“Robbe! I’m glad that you could make it.” For the fact that a grand total of _seven_ pairs of eyes were now on him, the brunet didn’t seem to notice. He accepted her hug and the bright red lipstick kiss that she pressed against his cheek. After hugging him, she pivoted to the guy that she had been arguing with. “Isn’t it time for your set, Sander?” The guy glanced at his watch before he raced into the other room. “Honestly, he’s so forgetful. What did you get for number five on the final?” 

“Really?” Robbe questioned. “You too? Yasmina already grilled me on all the questions.”

“ _Please_ , Robbe.” 

Left alone in the foyer, Jens turned towards Lucas, who glanced up at him. “Anyone want to see if they have some sort of beer to get absolutely wasted.” The rest of them raised their hands and they all moved off in the direction of the kitchen. 

* * *

Despite the fact that Moyo had spoken adamantly all night about how amazing it was to be a _single_ man, he promptly threw it all out the window at the sight of an upperclassman with a leather jacket, short black hair with fringe, and a septum piercing (that Jens was almost certain was another DJ). The dancer had left the group in pursuit of the mystery woman and had simply rolled her eyes, but Aaron had been the eager follower of Moyo. Before he had left, Jens demanded that he videotape his failings for blackmail. Aaron had happily agreed, practically skipping away with Jayden in tow, and Lucas rolled his eyes. 

Isa had pushed herself up on the counter with Kes leaning between her legs. Passing a beer bottle between them, the couple were talking to Lucas, who was leaning against the island, who was drinking a concoction out of a green plastic cup. Jens tried to listen in on the conversation between them, but he found himself looking for Robbe, who had all but disappeared once they arrived at the party. He pulled out his phone, pulling up his messages with Robbe. 

Jens: _Bro, where’d you go._

Robbe: _I’m still at the party._

_Zoë wanted to talk about our test._

Jens: _She does know you’re gay right?_

Robbe: _I hope so. We talk about guys all the time._

_Also, she’s dating Senne._

_Soooo._

Jens: _Are you the reason we keep getting invited to these parties?_

Robbe: _This one is the only one I’m responsible for._

Jens: _Well, are you ever going to come back to me?_

_I miss you._

Robbe: _I’m sure Lucas would be offended._

_I’m not about to be the fifth wheel to you, Lucas, Kes, and Isa._

_I had enough third-wheeling in high school to last a lifetime._

Jens pouted at his phone. Without having to look up, he felt Lucas gravitating towards him, eager to see what he was looking at. The cologne that he had chosen to wear, the one he always seemed to wear at parties, filled his system with Lucas standing so close. The intensity of it made him dizzy, but only temporarily, as Lucas reached out, scrolling up to find the rest of the messages. He chuckled before muttering out, glancing up at him with his wide blue eyes, whispering, “Bored of me already?” 

Jens glanced over to Kes and Isa. The former had turned in her embrace, the bottle that they were sharing wrapped in his hand. The two of them wrapped up in the bubble that they slipped into sometimes, talking in hushed whispers. His eyes returned to Lucas, who was still looking at him with a grin on his face. “What makes you think that?”

“Because instead of talking to us, you’re texting Robbe,” Lucas remarked, glancing down at his phone. Jens glanced over at the couple, who were still in their own bubble. “Or, well, me I guess. Am I not interesting enough for you?”

“Definitely.”

“Oh really?” Lucas chuckled. One of his eyebrows raised challengingly and a smirk formed across his lips as he pivoted towards Jens. His cup was still clutched in his hand and he grinned up at Jens. “Do you really want me to show you how _interesting_ I can be?” he questioned, his voice low but sure. 

Jens raised an eyebrow, a smirk already pulling up at the corner of his lips. There was a flirty response on the tip of his tongue, his brain had begun to form the words that he wanted to say, and he opened his mouth to respond. However, before he could get a word out, there was someone cutting him off before he had even begun, “Lucas, it’s your favorite song. Let’s dance.”

The two of them glanced over to Kes, who was pushing himself up from the counter. Behind him, Isa was giggling, her eyes scrunched up from her smile. There was a look of confusion on Lucas’s features as Kes snatched the red cup from his hands, placing it on the counter. Then, the smaller of the two tugged him out of the kitchen and in the direction of the living room. Isa watched them with a small smile on her face.

“What just happened?” Jens questioned. 

The girl giggled, motioning him to her. Jens took a step closer to her. She pointed in the direction of the kitchen and Jens half-leaned over the counter to be able to see. Over the bar counter, there was a clear shot into the edge of the living room. The DJ had switched for the third time tonight, now someone with a mixture of pop and r&b, and there were fewer people dancing than there had been before. And, as a result, it was quite easy to spot Kes and Lucas since they were lingering on the edge of the group. 

The two of them were wrapped in each other’s arms, foreheads pressed briefly against one another. Both of their hands were joined together. Lucas took a cautionary step back, remarking something to Kes, who promptly pulled him closer, his hand on his lower back. He could tell that Lucas was laughing and Jens could tell that Kes was talking to Lucas as they danced, half-sway and half-dancing-to-the-music. 

Quickly, and suddenly, like yanking a rug out from beneath him, a wave of _something_ washed over Jens’s entire body, drenching him in the unknown feeling. The longer that he looked, the more intense that the wave got, hitting him in the back so hard that his stomach twisted into an intricate sailor’s knot. Even as he took a step back and took a swig of his remaining beer, Jens could feel the knot growing in his stomach, twisting harder and harder with each passing second. 

Jens drowned the rest of his beer and pushed himself up. “Do you happen to know where the bathroom is?” 

Isa blinked over him, pulling her eyes away from Lucas and Kes with a fond smile still plastered on her features. “Yeah, it’s right up the stairs and it’s the second door on your right!” 

“Cool,” Jens managed, moving towards the front door, out the other entrance to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.” Isa nodded her head, turning back to watch Kes and Lucas, as Jens stepped out. He walked down the hallway and up the stairs in the foyer. 

With each increased step away from the kitchen, the knot that Jens’s stomach made lessened considerably, lifting and unraveling in his stomach until he finally felt like he could breathe again without feeling somewhat nauseous. Stopping outside the door to the bathroom, the second door on the right, Jens let out a sigh and moved to open the door. He needed to get back downstairs and ignore the knot that had formed in his stomach. 

It was nothing. 

It had to be nothing. 

Right?

Pushing open the door in front of him, even a little buzzed, he realized quickly that it wasn’t the bathroom. In fact, it was a bedroom and it was occupied. In the darkness, even as he quietly attempted to step out of the room, his brain registered the sight in front of him, the couple kissing and gripping onto each other’s clothes with an iron grip. One of the guys was the DJ from the foyer, Jens could tell from the platinum-blonde hair and the leather jacket, and the other was shrouded in darkness. 

By the time that Jens had fully stepped out the door, moving his tall frame to maneuver out and close the door without alerting them, his buzzed and slow brain managed to realize _who_ the other guy was. Robbe. The realization made Jens trip over his heels, trying to get out of the room before he was spotted, before he was spotted by his best friend. But, on his way out, he slammed his shoulder against the door frame. It had alerted the couple to his presence and Jens barely registered that Robbe spotted him before the door slammed close. 

Seconds later, Robbe shouted, his voice portraying his shocked, embarrassed rage. “Jens!” 

“Sorry!” There was a mild grumble on the other side of the door from Robbe, half-muffled, and a deep laugh from whoever he was with. “Where’s the fucking bathroom?”

“Two doors over,” the DJ spoke. His voice was deeper than Robbe’s was, a little dazed, but he was still chuckling as he continued, “Away from the stairs. Not towards it.” 

“Thank you. Sorry, Isa gave bad directions.”

“Isa always gives bad directions.”

“How was I supposed to know that? I’ve never been to the second floor.”

There was a laugh, deeper than Robbe’s giggles, but it was quickly overcome by Robbe shouting, “Go to the fucking bathroom, Jens!” 

“I’m trying! You’re yelling at me!” 

“Why are you yelling at a door?” Lucas spoke, appearing at the top of the stairs. There was a Chesire grin on his face, his eyes darting between Jens and the door. “And, here, I thought you abandoned me in favor of someone else but you are simply yelling at a door on the second floor of some rich guy’s house.”

“Okay, for starters, I didn’t abandon you. You abandoned me. And, secondly, I’m not yelling at a door. I’m yelling at _Robbe_ who was also yelling at me from the other side of the door,” Jens explained, pointing at the door. Lucas’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he looked like he was about to question when Jens continued, “Speaking of Robbe, do you happen to know how to safely bleach your eyeballs to erase an image permanently from your memory?” 

There was something banging against the door, probably a shoe, that collided against the wooden surface and hopefully didn’t leave a dent. It was quickly followed by a loud laugh that must’ve been the DJ’s as Robbe shouted, “Shut up, you asshole! I heard that!” 

Lucas grinned. “Oh no, did you walk in on him getting laid?” 

“No, thankfully, but I would still like to erase the image from my mind,” Jens remarked, moving in the direction of the bathroom. He could hear Lucas patter after him as he walked two more doors over and he knocked gently on the wooden door. After a few moments of no protests or shouts, Jens opened the door and stepped inside, moving to the sink to wet his hands. He ran his hands over his face, the chill of the water bringing him back to the bathroom. 

The door to the hallway shut with a slight _bang_. Jens glanced up, finding Lucas staring at him as he, almost dramatically, locked the door with a flourish. Jens chuckled, rolling his eyes as Lucas stepped closer to him. As Jens wiped away the remains of the water on his face, Lucas’s arms wrapped low on his waist, leaning against his shoulder. Somehow, the gesture felt more intimate than anything that they had done before, in the time since they started sleeping together. Without really thinking about it, Jens leaned back into his embrace.

“Is everything okay?” Lucas questioned. 

“Hmm?” Jens questioned. 

“Isa said that you seemed a little off before you left,” Lucas added. Jens glanced over at him to see that Lucas was raising an eyebrow at him, a small smile ghosting over his face. The grin formed into one of his all-knowing grins and something warm moved through his chest, spreading through his body. The flirtatious look had returned to Lucas’s eye before he ducked his lips down against Jens’ neck. Lucas pressed a long open-mouthed kiss along his vein, earning a light moan from Jens’ mouth, before whispering against the skin without looking up, “Were you jealous?” 

“No,” Jens admitted, watching Lucas in the mirror. 

“It’s okay if you were…”

“I wasn’t, I promise,” he replied. He pivoted in Lucas’s arms, wrapping his arms around Lucas. The boy in his arms tilted to stare up at him, his arms dropping low on his waist to hold him tightly. Jens stared down at Lucas over the tip of his nose, pivoting so Lucas’s hips were on the edge of the sink. Naturally, Lucas reached behind him to hold the edge of the sink before jumping up to sit on the edge of the counter, his legs wrapping around Jens’ waist. “I’m just, maybe, a little buzzed.” 

“I am too,” Lucas admitted, reaching up to cradle the back of Jens’ head. 

There was a moment’s hesitation before Lucas leaned forward, pressing his lips against Jens’. The kiss was soft, slow, hesitant, and lucid, all wrapped up together and decorated with a bow. Lucas pulled Jens closer to him, opening his mouth, as Jens shifted closer, eliminating any space that rested between their chests. Jens gripped tighter on Lucas’s thighs, earning a light gasp between their lips. Lucas tugged on his hair, bringing him closer, wrapping his legs tighter around his waist, bringing their hips together in a long agonizing roll that tilted his head back against the mirror. 

“Fuck, Jens,” Lucas breathed as Jens pressed long kisses along his jawline. With each new kiss, each scrap of his teeth against Lucas’s skin, his roommate’s fingers gave a tight squeeze of his hair. Lucas tilted his head back, resting against the mirror, giving Jens further access to his neck and pulling him closer and closer. The edge of the counter dug into Jens’ thighs but he didn’t care. He simply pulled Lucas’s hips closer to him and Lucas sunk further down against the mirror as a result. “If you make me crane any further, my neck is going to sn-,” Lucas started before a moan was ripped from his lips, unable to be silenced, as Jens purposely rolled their hips together. 

Smirking against the flesh of his neck, Jens reached for the leather of Lucas’s belt, tugging it apart with one hand.

“Jens, we’re in some rich dude’s _bathroom_ ,” Lucas hissed.

Jens didn’t have to pull away to tell that he was grinning. But, still, he sat up, raising a challenging eyebrow and disconnecting their lips. Lucas whined out his name and Jens smirk grew wider. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Fuck, _no_ ,” Lucas hissed out, surging forward so their lips slid together again. There was a laugh that got lost between their lips as they kissed each other harder. Their lips moved urgently than they had before. Lucas wrapped his arms around Jens’s shoulders, sitting up on the edge of the counter to keep them close together and pulling him closer until there was no room left between them. Jens gripped at Lucas’s thighs before undoing the button of his jeans and sliding his hand past the hemline of his jeans.

* * *

Jens was thrilled to be back on campus. 

While he had been thrilled to be back in home, to see all of his old high school friends who had gone to other universities, to see Jana and his sisters and his parents and Mama IJzermans, he had been eagerly anticipating the return back to his on-campus dorm and the freedom that he had obtained while living in the dorms and on-campus. At the university, there were no nagging moms trying to make sure he was okay, no little sisters that were trying to invade his privacy as he texted his friends, and no fathers trying to figure out things to do to keep him off his laptop. At university, he only had to deal with Robbe nagging him.

Oh, and Lucas. 

The two of them had kept in touch over text messages. Most of their conversations were about their trips home, what they did for Christmas, about Lucas’s father and Jens’s sisters. Occasionally, their conversations would turn flirtatious; rarely, nsfw. His sisters would tease him about frequently texting and “smiling” which prompted Lies to make it her life’s mission to figure out _who "_ she" was. When Robbe came over, she grilled him for thirty minutes about who he was texting but he was clueless. Later, in their room, Robbe questioned about it but Jens had said, “If we talk about it, we talk about DJ Dude,” and Robbe had quickly ceded at the vague threat. 

Lucas was already back in their dorm a week before classes were set to start back up. 

Jens didn’t understand why he was back so early because Lucas had been looking forward to spending time with his mom. For the last week of the semester, he couldn’t talk about anything else because he hadn’t been able to go home as much as he had wanted to. His mother had made plans for them to go to a Christmas market and decorate the apartment. Jens had known that something was wrong, but it wasn’t until Kes had responded to him that he understood why. 

Kes: _Lucas’s mom admitted herself to the hospital._

_His dad wanted him to stay with him._

_But, he went back to campus early. He didn’t want to deal with him._

When Jens had returned back and questioned him about what happened, Lucas tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal, shrugging his shoulders and challenging him to a video game competition because he had spent the past few weeks honing his skills and he was _surely_ going to beat him this time (spoiler: Jens still won). In the quiet moments, he busied himself with work, getting ready for classes, or going out to skate. Once classes started back up, he kept himself busier and stared at his phone a lot. Jens was worried about him, but he did not want to push him to talk about something that the didn’t want to talk about. 

Despite everything that was going on with Lucas’s home-life, their game, their _whatever_ -they-are, their whatever-they-never-identified was still going on. But, it had also _changed_ and Jens didn’t know why or how it was happening. Before Christmas break, the two of them had hung out outside of their friends and slept together in what Jens would describe as an equal trade. They slept together, didn’t hesitate to go further, but they still hung out, had a good time, outside of having sex, outside of doing _things_ to the other. When Jens had first returned back to the campus, they had slept together, falling together like it was natural, Lucas’s legs around his hips and his lips leaving bruises down his neck, his fingernails digging into his skin to scratch long marks along the flesh. 

But, there had been a few times since where they were with each other, teetering on the edge of going further like they always did, and they just… _stopped_. It didn’t matter how hard they were in their jeans or how desperate Lucas seemed to look. Occasionally, Lucas would push him away, lightly, and whisper that he couldn’t do it, walking away without an explanation. Not like Jens needed one. It didn’t matter what Jens was feeling. He would listen to Lucas every time. He wasn’t one of those guys and he wasn’t about to force Lucas to sleep with him if he didn’t want it. But, Jens felt like there was something else going on, something more than Lucas was telling him. 

Outside of the fact that they were occasionally sleeping together, Jens and Lucas had been roommates for over an entire semester. When they weren’t together, they were likely texting each other. The two of them hung out both in and out of their dorm, both with and without their friends. Jens trusted Lucas to tell him things that he would only tell Robbe and he liked to think that Lucas felt the same. So, Jens knew a lot about Lucas, both personally and subconsciously. He had known that something was wrong.

But, that was _before_ Lucas started to avoid him. 

Now, by the time that Jens would wake up in the morning, Lucas would be gone. Their classes in the spring weren’t close like they had been in the fall so he hardly saw him between their classes. If Lucas was the first one in the cafeteria, he would purposely sit away from them, claiming it was because of homework. Lucas stayed out later than he usually did. By the time he would return to their dorm (and immediately leave to take a late-night shower), Jens had fallen asleep waiting up for him. Kes seemed worried about him but told Jens that he was just dealing with things with his dad. 

But, Jens couldn’t help the instinctual need that he had done something wrong. 

“Jens? Are you awake?” Lucas’s voice spoke up. Jens was only half asleep, trying to will himself to sleep more than anything else, so it was unsurprising that Lucas woke him up. Despite this, he hadn’t heard Lucas come in, let alone get in bed. Pivoting, he spotted Lucas turned on his side, his sheet half off of him and his face barely visible in the minimum moonlight that their single window provided. There was a nervous troubled look on his face.

“Yeah, I’m up,” Jens spoke, his voice portraying the fact that he had _not_ been up before. “Is everything okay?”

The silent addition of _with us_ remained unsaid, caught in Jens’ throat, unable to get out. 

“I don’t know,” Lucas admitted. He turned on his back, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes. “I know I’ve been distant lately and I’m sorry. I’ve just been dealing with so much with my mom and my dad. She says that she’s adjusting at the hospital fine, but, I’m still worried about her, you know?”

“It’s okay,” Jens replied. Lucas glanced over to him. Even in the minimum lighting, Jens could still spot the wide blue-eyes that Lucas had been gifted, cutting through the darkness and finding him with ease. “I just wish that you would talk to me instead of avoiding me is all.”

Lucas let out a sigh, sitting up in the bed. He climbed out of the bed, pattering over to Jens’ bed to sit on the edge. Jens sat up, crossing his legs to give him more space to sit. However, Lucas didn’t budge, simply leaning on the edge of the mattress and muttering out, “I’m sorry.” Jens was quiet as Lucas let out a heavy sigh and ran his hands through his hair, messing up his blond curls further. 

“It’s okay,” Jens replied. “But, your mom is in the best place that she can be. She’s getting the help that she needs and she’ll be home as quick as she can.” Lucas nodded his head. “I don’t know a lot about what happens and I don’t really know anyone. But, you can always talk to Robbe. His mom admitted herself to the hospital in high school. Plus, he wants to become a psychiatrist. I know that he would be willing to talk to you… if you needed it.” 

“Thanks,” Lucas murmured. “It means a lot.” 

“You’re welcome,” Jens replied. “Just know that it’ll be okay.” 

“Yeah…” 

There was a moment of silence between them. 

Lucas was still avoiding looking Jens in the eye and leaning against the edge of the bed, close but a little out of his reach. But, then, Lucas raised his head, his blue eyes connecting with Jens’ brown eyes. Even in the muted darkness of the evening, with no light other than the light moonlight sweeping through the curtains, Jens could see the distinct vulnerability in the blue irises of his eyes. He recognized it from the first time that they had kissed, that brief pause between the bruising first kiss and the desperate second one. Then, the look in his eyes shifted, from vulnerability to determination, like he was trying to hide something. 

And, Jens knew the second before it started happening, already tilting up his chin to meet Lucas’s as he leaned in and crossed the distance with his hands on Jens’ face, Lucas kissed him again. 

Their lips found each other greedily, lips moving hungrily together and pushing their mouths open. Lucas’s teeth clamped down on his bottom lip and tugged _hard_ before his tongue ran across it soothingly and into his mouth. One of his hands tugged hard on Jens’ hair, the other dropping down to his side, trailing down his waist. Jens gripped hard on Lucas’s waist, pulling him close, bringing him as close as possible, and Lucas fell into his touch like he was starved for it, leaning so their bodies completely and wholly fit together, linked and flushed against one another like a never-ending link. 

This kiss felt familiar. 

Unlike all of their previous kisses, which were fueled by lust and frustration, sometimes sexual, this one felt different and new, almost like they had all the time in the world, almost like they had never kissed before and they were exploring each other again. Jens gripped tightly onto Lucas’s thigh with both hands, moving his hands up, across his back, across his chest, tracing out the lean muscle and flesh of his back. With one hand firmly clamped in Jens’ hair, Lucas’s other hand traced out the muscles of Jens’s back, beneath the fabric of his sleep shirt, tracing long wide-patterns, fingers pressing into the muscle. 

But, once Lucas started clawing at the fabric of his shirt, Jens pulled back, whispering, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

With each new article of clothing that they stripped off, Jens would repeat the same question, “Are you sure?”, and Lucas sang back whispers of “Yes” in a new strain of the word every time, stressed, half a moan, half a gasp, a breath. Even with zero clothes between them, still almost connected but not quite there, Jens asked again and Lucas kissed him deeply in response, tugging at the muscle of his shoulder. The _yes_ was lost in the space between their lips as they pulled each other closer, connecting in all the ways that seemed to matter right here, right now. Their labored breath quiet painted music in the quiet hush of their dorm room, clinging to one another, chasing that high that was building in their stomach. 

When they reached the peak of it all, when they crashed down to earth together, Lucas collapsed into Jens’s chest, breathing heavily into the flesh of his shoulder. Lucas curled into his touch, hiding his face from Jens, buried in the blanket of skin and sweat. Jens leaned them back, cleaned them up, and wrapped them in a cocoon of his sheets with Lucas still tucked into his neck, his breathing evened out. Once the blankets were around them, Lucas reached out and clung to him tightly, shifting further so they were flush against each other. There wasn’t much space on the bed, but when they were close together, like this, they were both able to fit on the mattress without fear of falling off.

Lucas fell asleep quickly, his breath evening out quickly with his arms wrapped around Jens’ waist. 

But, Jens stayed awake, watching Lucas sleep, the stress drained from his body. It was the closest thing that he had been to looking relaxed since returning to school after Christmas break. Jens traced the path of his face with his pinky, down his arm, across his side. He watched as Lucas’s face twisted, stirring but not fully waking up. It continued for a while and Jens watched, a little mesmerized at his little twitches, until his own eyelids grew heavy. 

Realizing that he would be asleep soon, Jens reached out, pulling Lucas closer against his chest by his shoulders, their warm skin pressing together. Subconsciously and half-asleep, Lucas held him a little tighter too and Jens relished, briefly, in the feeling. Closing his eyes, feeling his eyelids grow heavy, he felt the slow descent into sleep, washing over him like a comfortable blanket. 

Then, he was asleep all-at-once, clinging to Lucas with both hands. 

When he opened his eyes, he was alone, naked in bed with Lucas gone and the other bed made. Even Lucas’s things were gone and their discarded clothes picked up. Sitting up in his bed, Jens let out a sigh, running a hand over his face. He didn’t glance at the clock, he knew it was pretty early, and he couldn’t hide the growing hollow in his stomach as he stared at the empty room. 

In the months since the start of their… _whatever_ -it-was, their undecided and undefined relationship, today had been the first time that Jens has woken up alone in one of their beds. 

* * *

“Do you ever think about the possibility of getting back into dating?”

Lucas’s voice cut through the silence of the dorm room, the silence that Jens was starting to become continuously frustrated with. In the past, Jens had always known what to say around Lucas, and Lucas was relentless about teasing Jens for any and everything that happened in and out of their room. But, now, Jens felt like he didn’t know what to say to Lucas, and Lucas seemed to be holding himself back in more ways than one, and Jens didn’t know what to do to shift things back to the way they were before. 

Maybe, that’s why the question had taken him by surprise, dragging the rug out from beneath him and landing him, metaphorically, flat on his back. In reality, he was sitting on his bed, notes and a textbook open in front of him, and blinking up confused at Lucas. His roommate had just entered the room, fresh from his class which always seemed to be particularly draining, holding his backpack in one hand and his jean jacket in the other. He deposited his backpack beside his backpack and moved in the direction of Jens and his bed. 

“What do you mean?” he questioned. 

Lucas shrugged his shoulders, draping his jacket over the back of his desk chair as he passed. “I don’t know. Just been thinking about it lately,” Lucas remarked. He stepped towards Jens, stopping at the edge of the bed, but not leaning up against it like he had the previous night. “So, do you?” 

Jens’ stomach twisted, his body quickly shifting to nervous, like he was taking a test that he was sure he was prepared for. Placing his notes on his desk, Jens ran a hand over his face and looked up at Lucas, “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before.” Lucas watched him closely, his eyes searching for something, and Jens continued, “The college dating lifestyle hasn’t really gone that good for me before.” Lucas nodded his head. “Have you thought about it?”

Lucas was quiet, his gaze dropped to the floor, and he shifted from one foot to the other. Jens watched him curiously, seeing him shift nervous and moved his notes so Lucas could sit down. But the Dutch boy continued to stand outside of reach. 

“Do you?” Jens questioned. 

Lucas didn’t answer, sucking in his bottom lip before tilting his head back. Then, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. After several seconds, he glanced over at Jens and whispered out, “Yeah, a little bit.” There was another pause, long and drawn out before he continued. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, the whole sneaking around is hot and it’s only been about sex, but I want something more than just that.” Jens nodded his head, biting down on the inside of his lip. “I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about it lately.”

“Is that why you’ve been distant with me?” Jens questioned. 

“Yeah, a little,” Lucas admitted. “With everything going with my mom and that… I don’t know, it’s just been on my mind lately.” There was another pause, but it was over quicker because Lucas spoke up, “There’s this guy in my history class that has asked me to study with her a couple of times. And, he asked me for coffee this morning.”

Nodding his head, Jens swallowed as Lucas avoided his gaze again. His stomach twisted harder, rung out, squeezed tightly with an impossible amount of force that nearly knocked the wind out of his lungs and made it hard to breathe. Trying to relieve the feeling, he took a sip of the water placed by his desk. “So, are you going to go?” 

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m not for sure.”

“Well, if it’s something that you want to do,” Jens started. Lucas glanced up at him, their eyes connecting again, and Jens felt his stomach, no, his chest tighten considerably. It was so bad that he had to force out the remainder of his sentence. “You should do it. But, only if it’s something that you want to do.” Lucas nodded his head and Jens swallowed before asking. “Is it something that you want to do?”

Lucas let out a breath. “Yeah,” he replied. “Yeah, I think it is.” 

“Then, you should do it,” Jens spoke, shrugging his shoulders. “You should do whatever it is that makes you happy. And, if that’s going on a date with the guy from your history class, you should go on a date with the guy from your history class.” 

For a moment, Lucas simply stared at him, his bright-blue eyes darting all over Jens’ face. Jens thought that Lucas’s eyes had fleetingly darted down to his lips, but he must’ve been imagining it. However, he did notice the sad look in his eyes, briefly and barely there, before the charismatic look on his face, the one that Jens knew was something of a shield, returned as Lucas spoke, moving to grab some clothes and a towel, “Thanks for understanding, Jens. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be back.” 

“You’re welcome,” Jens managed. 

Once Lucas had disappeared into the hallway, his footsteps sounding off in the direction of the showers, Jens let out a sigh, leaning his head forward, pressing his eyes against the palms of his hands. Even once Lucas was gone from the dorm, his chest, his entire body, gave a frightening squeeze. Jens took a drink, tried to stabilize his breathing, anything to get rid of the ache in his body, but it persisted and it prolonged. Leaning back against the wall that had become a make-shift headboard, Jens let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He hadn’t felt this way in a while. 

Not since…

Well…

Not since he found out about Jana kissing Luka… 

* * *

“Isn’t that your guy?”

For the past thirty minutes, since Jens had sat down with an entire plate full of fries and Robbe had given him a half-nod in greeting, the brunet had practically ignored him the entire time. Jens didn’t really mind, he knew that Robbe had an essay due on Thursday in another class that he was trying to edit between classes, and he had just let him be. But, for the past twenty-five minutes, Jens had been staring at Lucas, who was laughing with an attractive bleach-blond haired guy with black skinny jeans and a leather jacket and a sketch pad in front of him. And, quite suddenly, he had just realized _where_ he had seen the leather-jacket-clad person before.

His initial question had only succeeded in jarring Robbe from the depths of his concentration tunnel. Robbe turned his head to him, blinking over in a dazed state, like he hadn’t fully comprehended or heard what Jens had said. So, Jens repeated his question and it was only then that Robbe pivoted in his seat to see where he was pointing. “Who? Sander?” Robbe questioned, as though there had been anyone else that he had made out with in the past few months. Turning back to his computer, he replied, “No, he’s not my guy.” 

“So, he’s not the guy that you were making out with at the party before the break? And, potentially having sex with. I don’t know, you never told me.”

“No, he is the guy,” Robbe replied, his eyes glued at the screen. He clicked a couple of buttons on the keyboard but didn’t look up as he continued, “We’re not together so he’s not my _guy_ or whatever. And, thank you for reminding me of that embarrassing encounter.” 

“You’re welcome for my accidental payback. So, did you?” Jens questioned. 

“Did I what?”

“Have sex with him at the party,” Jens replied like it was obvious. He glanced back over at the table, away from the confused Robbe. At their table, Lucas said something funny. Or, rather, he presumed that Lucas said something funny because the two of them erupted into laughter. Sander threw his head back, laughing loudly and openly, and Lucas soon followed, grinning over at Sander and running a hand through his curls. Even as he spoke, his stomach twisted painfully, “I can see why you would. He’s quite attractive and _definitely_ your type.” 

As he said it, Jens was aware of the uncharacteristic tenseness that was in his voice. It was an unhappy by-product of the continuous and present twisting of his stomach, the heavy squeeze of his chest. But, it also jogged Robbe out of his focused concentration, looking over at Jens with a confused look in his eyes. He could see that Robbe was pivoting in his seat, heard the gentle click of his laptop, and questioned, “What’s going on, Jens?” 

“Nothing,” Jens replied, his gaze still pinned on Lucas. 

“Well, that’s a lie,” Robbe remarked. Jens glanced over at him, spotting the knowing look gracing Robbe’s features. “I’ve known you since we were kids, Jens. Do you honestly think that I don’t know when you’re lying?”

Jens let out a sigh. “Don’t you think they’re awfully close?” he responded without answering his best friend’s question. Jens gestured in the direction of Sander and Lucas. The former was showing Lucas something in his sketchbook now and they seemed to be commenting about it. Robbe pivoted away from Jens to look over at the two of them before returning to Jens with a raised eyebrow. “Lucas mentioned someone in his history class asking him to have a coffee.” That caused Robbe’s eyebrows to shook up higher. “I’m just curious. Since we got back from break, he’s been distant with me.” 

“Well, I can assure you that it’s not Sander so you’re going to find a new target, Gossip Girl,” Robbe replied with a smirk on his face. Jens flipped him off as he reached to take a drink. Robbe opened his laptop back up and quickly typed in the password to return to his essay or whatever he had been working on before. “If Sander wanted to be in a relationship with Lucas, he wouldn’t have come over and fucked me last night.” 

The bluntness of the statement, and the content of it, caught him so off-guard that Jens nearly choked on his drink. There was an amused look on Robbe’s face as he typed on his laptop as Jens recovered, managing to force out, “ _That’s_ why you’re so relaxed.”

Robbe threw a fry at him, which hit his cheek and landed against the table. “Fuck off.” 

“So, wait,” Jens spoke up, gaining control of his voice again. He turned away from Lucas and Sander, back to Robbe, who simply looked up with a raised eyebrow. “You and this Sander guy _are_ together?” 

“No,” Robbe remarked. The brunet shrugged his shoulders before adding, “At least, not in the traditional sense. We’re just friends and we hang out with each other from time-to-time. Occasionally, he’ll come over to draw me while I’m studying for one of his art classes, but, usually, we just meet up to fuck.” Robbe fell silent, not glancing away from his laptop as he highlighted something on the word document that he was working on. Then, once he hit delete, he continued like he hadn’t stopped, “Neither one of us want to be in a relationship so it ended up working out.”

“Huh,” Jens breathed out. His eyes found Lucas, who was digging through his bag, before quickly averting his eyes back to his own food. He could feel Robbe’s stare and saw him pivot in his chair again. “I guess that’s a common practice these days…” Jens trailed off, unable to continue. Robbe reached out to tap on his hand and Jens looked up at him. 

“I know that look on your face, Jens. Something’s bothering you. What is it?” 

“Just something happened with Lucas,” Jens replied. He ran a hand over his face before looking over at Robbe, who was waiting patiently for him to continue. “We’ve… uh, we’ve kind of been sleeping together for the past few months,” Jens started. He could see that Robbe’s eyes widen considerably, but Jens could only see Lucas laughing with Sander. Jens turned back to Robbe who was watching him.

“Did you guys break up?” Robbe questioned, concerned. 

“Hard to break up when you were never in a relationship in the first place,” Jens spoke, chuckling, unable to help himself. 

“Well, something obviously happened,” Robbe remarked, crossing his arms over his chest. He tilted his head to the side and smiled over at Robbe. “If you think that the rest of us haven’t noticed that the two of you have been distant lately, you’re wrong. And, something’s obviously eating at you.” Jens knew that he was telling the truth, but he shoved a fry in his mouth so he wouldn’t have to speak. “Look, you don’t have to tell me but you know that I’m always here to talk if you need it.”

“I know,” Jens breathed out. He ran a hand over his face and let out a sigh. The sound was only barely muffled by the palms of his hand and Jens could hear that Robbe was waiting. “It’s just… it’s also so fucking complicated, Robbe.” He ran a hand through his hair and turned to Robbe, who had leaned forward in his seat so he didn’t have to talk as loud. “Since we came back from break, he’s been distant with me and the other day, he mentioned something about getting back into dating again. I just didn’t realize how fucking complicated it could get.”

For a moment, Robbe was quiet. Jens knew the look on his face, the wheels turning in his head, the smoke spilling out his ears, into the air around them. Then, the realization registered and lit up his eyes as his mouth dropped open a little in shock. Once that happened, he knew that it was only a matter of time before Robbe said the words that Jens had been skirting around, the ones he didn’t want to say because it made it real, matter-of-factly and without hesitation, “You have feelings for Lucas.” 

Jens let out a sigh. “I don’t know,” he admitted, running a hand over his face again. He felt afraid to say it, to admit it out loud, but Jens managed to force out, “Maybe.” 

But, even though he didn’t want to admit it out loud, he knew that it was true. He had feelings for Lucas. He had known it since the moment that his chest had squeezed frighteningly… since Lucas walked out of the dorm room to shower, leaving Jens alone in his thoughts. Jens had spent about five minutes sitting in silence and left, spending the rest of it at the skate park, alone, skating around aimlessly. Jens stayed out so late that Lucas was already in bed, sleeping soundly. But, it was at the sight of Jens’ abandoned notes and his textbook on his desk, neatly and in his own system, that made his heartbeat lighter and that overwhelming realization, the one that he didn’t want to hear, hit him like a freight train.

And he had been running from it ever since. 

He had relationships, almost all of them in varying length, in the past, but each of them had meant something different to him. Britt was the first love until their relationship fractured and he found himself falling for Jana because she made him laugh, made him feel special. Matthias was his first serious relationship since Jana, the first one that felt like it _meant_ something, but he ended it because he couldn’t do long distance. But, none of it compared to these past few months with Lucas. 

Despite everything else they were, roommates, whatever they ended up being, the thing that they never found the need to define, Lucas had been, most importantly, one of his closest friends. Even with the history with Moyo and Aaron, Jens felt like Lucas knew more about him than they did. In fact, the only friendship it rivaled was the one he had with Robbe. Somehow, that simple notion made their relationship deeper and richer. Whatever else they had become, they were friends first and foremost and it had only enhanced their relationship, richened it, deepened it further than any of his past relationships. 

And, somehow, the realization that he had feelings for Lucas had simultaneously managed to surprise him and leave him with a feeling of comfort like he had known it all along, predictable and certain. 

“Jens?” Robbe spoke up, shaking Jens from his thoughts. Robbe was sitting on the other side of the table, his laptop abandoned and left open beside him. There was a concerned look on his face and Jens wondered how long he had been there, sitting and lost in his own thoughts. “What’s going on in your head?” 

Jens shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against one of his hands. “I know that you and Sander haven’t been together that long,” Jens started. Robbe raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. “But, have you ever thought that you might have feelings for him?” 

Robbe paused, the gears turning, before he spoke, “No, I don’t think that I-”

“Sup, Broerrrs!”

Moyo walked towards them, grinning from ear-to-ear with a tray of food in his hand and his backpack over one shoulder. He quickly moved around the table, flopping down in the seat next to Robbe, who sent a silent glance in Jens’ direction that meant that they would finish their conversation later. Jens wondered why, neither of them had been shy about their sex lives with Moyo or Aaron, but the chair beside Jens squeaked as Kes pulled it out. He flopped down beside him and grinned. “Sup, guys.” 

Oh, that was why.

“Hey,” Robbe spoke.

Jens managed a smile. 

“What were you guys talking about?” 

Robbe stayed quiet as Jens shrugged his shoulders, offering. “We were just talking about Robbe’s stupid paper that he’s been working on forever.” Robbe let out a heavy sigh, moving back in the direction of his laptop to pull up the paper. Kes launched into questioning about the paper and Moyo teased him about taking a break and _enjoying some company_ (unaware of the knowing glance that Jens sent Robbe’s direction). But, as the conversation went on, Jens found his eyes landing back on Lucas, who was still laughing with Sander at their table. 

* * *

To be fair, Robbe was supposed to be distracting him.

When they had arrived at the party, Robbe had promised to help distract him from the fact that Lucas had left the dorm earlier when a guy with black hair and a button-up shirt had come to pick him up. It might have been the guy from his history class. It might have been someone else. But, Jens couldn’t deny the clenching of his chest at the sight of the two of them, leaning against a wall near the back door of Senne De Smet’s two-bedroom house (and honestly, how did they keep ending up at Senne’s famous parties?). So, he tried to keep himself distracted. 

When the two of them were mostly alone, perched on the counter in the kitchen, positioned in a way that they could clearly see part of the living room (namely the DJ booth), Jens was teasing Robbe about how Sander was wearing the tightest pair of skinny jeans that he had seen him in yet which meant that he had to look to be getting laid. The blushing Robbe had shoved him playfully but with too much force that ended with Jens falling into the large and empty sink, laughing loudly and thankful that his cup was empty. Once Sander had finished his set and the next DJ was up, he had joined them in the kitchen, introducing himself to Jens nonchalantly and slyly managed to make his intentions known.

The bold statement had only caused Robbe’s cheeks to flush in embarrassment and Jens filed away the teasing fuel for a later date as he nodded his head, assuring Robbe that it was okay. Once Sander had left the kitchen and Robbe followed a few minutes later, pretending to be sneaky when he wasn’t, he sent Jens an “ _I'_ _m sorry_ ” glance over his shoulder. 

Letting out a sigh, Jens tucked his feet beneath his thighs and took a sip of the beer in his cup, which he had managed to refill after he managed to get himself _out_ of the sink. The rest of their friends were in the kitchen as well. Jayden was talking with Moyo and Aaron about something serious and Kes was lingering around the group with a smile on his face. Isa had been with them at one point, but her friend, Engel, had pulled her onto the dance floor with another group of girls. 

Even before Robbe had left, his eyes had been wandering on-and-off to Lucas all night. Without Robbe being there, and the rest of their friends wrapped up in a conversation that was so far gone that Jens couldn’t figure out what they were even talking about, his eyes naturally found their way to Lucas. 

Standing together with the mystery guy, they hadn’t moved far from where they had originally planted by the backdoor. Lucas was half-leaning against the wall, wearing a navy button-up shirt that looked far too good on him and the pair of denim jeans that he always seemed to like. There was a bottle of beer in his hand and he was frequently using the other to gesture wildly. Whenever the mystery guy would say something, Lucas would raise his eyebrows and laugh, throwing his head back and grinning from ear-to-ear, which somehow made Jens’ stomach clench harder. The two of them seemed to be in a deep conversation, lost in their own little world. 

And, so was Jens, because he didn’t realize that Kes had slid up to him, taking Robbe’s now-vacant seat until the black-haired guy had let out a sigh and questioned, “Enjoying the view?” 

The presence of Kes, combined with the partial embarrassment of being caught staring at his roommate, had forced Jens out of his own little world of self-pity and longing. Shrugging his shoulders, Jens managed to get out, “Sorry, I spaced out,” as he took a sip of the beer in his hand. The beverage had been sitting so long that it was luke-warm, practically room temperature, and Jens grimaced as the taste washed down his mouth. 

There was a look on Kes’ face as he smirked, glancing back over to Lucas, before saying, “So, what’s going on with the two of you? Both of you have been rather distant from each other.” There was a pause, a lag between them, as Moyo and Jayden attempted to shove Aaron in Amber’s direction, chanting his name in hopes of getting him motivated. After a few seconds, Kes added, “Did you guys end whatever arrangement that you guys had going on?” 

Quickly, shock coursed through Jens’ system, spilling into every atom and ounce of blood and brittle bone in his body. But, the initial shock of Kes knowing what was between him and Lucas, that Lucas had told Kes about the relationship that they never defined, was quickly washed away by the realization that “ _of course he knew_ ”. It had taken Jens’s feelings to get him to finally tell Robbe what was going on between him and Lucas, but Kes and Lucas were marginally more open about what was going on in their daily lives. Even now, Jens and Robbe only tended to speak up about things when it bothered them. They tended not to talk about the little mundane details of their day-to-day lives. 

“Lucas mentioned something about getting back into dating,” Jens spoke, his throat dry. He took a sip of his drink, grimacing once again, before adding, “That seems to be what he’s doing.” 

Kes sent him a skeptical look. In his peripheral vision, he could see the tilt of Kes’s head as he turned towards Jens. And, it’s only when Jens met his gaze that he saw the lift of his eyebrow. “That might be the case but how do you feel about it?” 

“I told him that if it was something that he wanted to do, he should do it.”

“No, Jens, that’s not what I asked,” Kes spoke. Jens glanced down at his beer, scratching at the label on the glass bottle. “I already know what you told him because he told me. You told him that if he wanted to date, he should. But, here you are, at a party, drinking a warm beer and glaring at the back of Dominick’s head as they talk about whatever they’re talking about.” Jens drowned the rest of his beer, forcing it down his throat. “So, how do you feel about the fact that Lucas might be getting back into dating?” 

There was a pause. 

Then, “I don’t know.” 

And, it was true. Jens knew that he had feelings for Lucas. But, his feelings about Lucas getting back into dating left his stomach and chest in a confused pit of energy. To Jens, he shouldn’t have an opinion because it was above and all Lucas’s choice and whatever it is that Lucas wanted to do about it. And, Jens had meant what he said. If Lucas wanted to get back into dating, he should. But, that didn’t relieve the confused feelings in his stomach about it. 

A smile bloomed over Kes’ face, grinning over at him as he spoke, “See? Was that so hard?” Jens scoffed and rolled his eyes, shoving his friend away. Kes grinned at him before turning back in the direction of Lucas and the mystery guy. “You know, you and Lucas always seemed to be good together. Even _before_ you guys started sleeping together. And, I know that if Robbe were here, he would be saying the same thing.” 

Kes was right. 

And Jens knew it. 

Lifting himself off the counter, Kes returned back to the guys, moving to motivate Aaron to do the thing that he was so afraid of doing or unable to do without mixing his words together in a jumbled mess. Jens watched the group of them for a heartbeat before his eyes navigated back to Lucas. By now, he was now leaning against the wall, his head tilted to the side in a move that Jens recognized as one of his many flirting techniques and grinning up at him a little buzzed. Even with his back to Jens, the latter could tell that the mystery guy was equally as receptive to Lucas’s flirting, leaning closer in an attempt to hear each other over the loud boom of the base. 

Jens let out a sigh, the knowing feeling washing over him with certainty.

Swinging off the counter, he landed on the wood floor with finality. Without looking over at his friends, and ignoring their comments, his feet took him over to Lucas and the mystery guy, unable to stop now that he had started. Once he realized that Jens was approaching, Lucas couldn’t look away and the mystery guy turned to see what Lucas was staring at. Now that he was within arm’s reach, Jens reached out, snagging Lucas by the wrist and pulling him away from the wall and towards the back door. 

“Jens?” Lucas questioned, following him willingly. “What’s going on?”

As the mystery guy turned to question, Jens simply smiled at the guy and said to Lucas, “I need to talk to you.” 

Even as he dragged Lucas out the backdoor, as the door slammed shut behind them, cutting off the mild and confused protests of the mystery guy, Jens didn’t need to look back to know that Kes had a knowing look on his face. 

* * *

Once the two of them were out of sight from the party, clouded in darkness and shade from the oak tree in a dark corner of the backyard, Lucas had enough of Jens not responding, practically ripping his wrist from his grasp and questioning, “Jens, what’s going on?” Despite the barely-there sharp tone in his voice, Lucas didn’t seem angry or displeased. In fact, if anything, his roommate seemed relieved to be separated from the mystery guy, at least for a little bit. But there was a look of confusion in his eye as he stared over at Jens, put a little distance between them.

The words caught in his throat, forcing him to swallow them down. After a few minutes of silence and a questioning eyebrow raise from Lucas, Jens managed to get out, “You looked like you needed some saving so I thought I would offer some type of assistance.”

Lucas blinked at him before a smile cracked over his face, pulling up at the corners of his lips. The blond took a sip of his beer that he still had in his hand before swallowing. Then, he turned to Jens and said, “Well, thank you for saving me.” There was a pause between them, the silence drawing on and on. It was briefly cut through by the pounding music inside as someone headed inside from smoking on the balcony. Lucas turned back to Jens, letting out a sigh as he added, “But, I should really get back inside to the party. I don’t want to leave Dominick hanging.” 

Giving him a small smile, Lucas started to step away from Jens, out from beneath the shadows of the giant oak tree in Senne De Smet’s backyard, back to the party with it’s pounding lights and thumping beats and distractions in the form of mystery coffee date dude, who was apparently named Dominick. Jens reached out to grab his wrist, but he aimed too low and grabbed Lucas’s hand. Lucas stopped, pivoting back towards him with a confused look, but not pulling his hand out of his grasp. Lucas’s bright blue eyes started searching his face, looking for the secrets that Jens was keeping hidden. 

Swallowing, hard, Jens questioned, “Can I be honest with you?” 

The confusion in his eyes only grew but Lucas nodded his head, squeezing his hand as he breathed out, “Of course, you can.” 

The words that Jens wanted to say, trapped in his lungs, felt like an active grenade with the pin removed. If Jens said those wards, put it out there, he felt like they could blow the remaining pieces of their friendship and roommateship to pieces, ripping it apart and leaving them clinging to memories and what they were before it had exploded. But, now that he had admitted it fully to Robbe, and basically to Kes, he couldn’t keep it from Lucas anymore. Even if he was still unsure how he wanted to admit it to Lucas. 

Jens let out a sigh. 

Lucas squeezed his hand. 

And, Jens told the truth. “I don’t know how I feel about you getting back into dating.” 

There was a dark look that clouded Lucas’s eyes and Jens’ stomach dropped because he knew that he had said the wrong thing. His eyes dropped down to their joined hands, starting to pull back, but Jens gripped on tighter. Swallowing and swinging their joined hands together, Lucas questioned softly, “Because you’ll miss the sex?” 

“No, it’s not because of that. It was never because of that,” Jens spoke, stepping towards him. When Lucas raised his head to stare at Jens, his blue eyes were lighter than they had been before as they dragged over his face, down to their hands, and back again. Jens let out a breath, running his free hand across his face and gathering the words that he wanted to say in his mind. Lucas stayed, his thumb dragging along the back of Jens’ hand, until Jens said, “Look, I’m not good with this. So, I’m sorry if I’m saying this the wrong way, but I don’t know how to feel about you getting back into dating because I don’t want to see you with somebody else.” 

Lucas was quiet, his eyes growing wide as he stared at Jens. For a moment, he just stood there, holding onto Jens’ hand with a light grip. In his gaze, Jens felt like he was pinned beneath a microscope that held Lucas’s critical eye, being analyzed and inspected for any detail that might be what Lucas was looking for. Jens wasn’t for sure, but he stayed pinned beneath Lucas’s gaze as his own heart sped up frantically in his ribcage. He briefly wondered if Lucas could hear it. 

Then, a small smile tugged up the corners of Lucas’s lips. “I don’t know how I would feel if you started to see someone else.”

A breath of relief forced itself out of Jens’ chest and, without thinking, the words tumbled from behind his lips, “I really like you, Lucas. Like the kind that goes out on coffee dates and study dates and make out in the movie theater.” 

In front of him, Lucas grinned, bright and happy and wide and unashamed. Lucas took a step forward and held his hand a little tighter on his own. Then, his blond-haired roommate breathed out, laughter edging into his voice, “The two of us would never get anything done on study dates.” Jens chuckled, lightly, because he was right. They had fallen into each other’s arms on numerous occasions when they were supposed to be studying for tests. “And I really like to you too, Jens.”

“Yeah?” he questioned. 

“Yeah.” 

Lucas stepped forward, stepping closer and closer to Jens. The latter didn’t move, simply stared down as he wrapped one arm low on Jens’ waist and tugged him closer. Their lips met somewhere in the middle, sliding and fitting together as though they belonged together. Their clasped hands were pressed somewhere by their hipbones, still gripping the other. Jens wrapped his arms around Lucas’s shoulders, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Lucas gripped at his waist, tugging him closer. 

This kiss felt like a relief. It was like a breath of fresh air that Jens hadn’t realized that he was holding. He grasped it in his hands, clung to Lucas like a lifeline, like he was the only thing that Jens needed to breathe again. Their hands unclasped from between their bodies. Lucas’s hand fisted the fabric at the neck of his hoodie and Jens cradled his jaw, bringing him closer. It was hard to stop kissing once they started, but they were forced to pause, breaking only to regain their breath. They held each other close, pressing their foreheads together.

“I know that things got a little complicated between us because we were still friends and roommates,” Jens started, letting out a sigh. Lucas let out a hum to encourage him on. “But, I really do like you, Lucas. So, maybe, we can try to figure out who we are together, maybe as something more than roommates and friends… if that’s alright with you?”

“Yeah,” Lucas spoke. Jens could hear it in his voice that Lucas was smiling, but he opened his eyes to stare at him unabashed. Lucas was smiling so big that his eyes crinkled on the sides, bright and beautiful. A second later, Lucas opened his eyes to stare up at Jens, grinning at him. “We can be chill together and take this as slow as we want. Even if we’ve already sprinted past third base.” 

Jens laughed, pulling him closer. Their lips met somewhere, the laughter only half-dying on their lips. Lucas wrapped his arm around his shoulders and his own hands dropped to Lucas’s waist, fisting at the fabric of the navy button-up that he had worn. Lucas stumbled against him as Jens pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and feeling content with Lucas’s arms wrapped tightly around him.

* * *

While kissing Lucas, it was easy for Jens to lose track of time. 

It had happened multiple times over the course of their brief-undefined-relationship. They would be kissing with wandering wands and Jens would glance at the alarm clock only to find that the time that he _did_ have had evaporated through his fingers. Every time, except for one where there was no way he was making it to his plans on time, he had to flee the dorm room, frustrated, leaving Lucas chuckling behind him and teasing him through text message. 

And, now, it still remained the same. 

It could’ve been ten minutes or it could’ve been hours, but Jens didn’t know how long it had been since they started kissing beneath the shadows of the oak tree in Senne De Smet’s backyard. Even with the slight chill of the air nipping at their cheeks and their noses, penetrating the fabric of their clothes, the two of them couldn’t find the heart or will to separate their kisses which were simply increasing in intensity and duration. 

The two of them had stumbled against the trunk of the tree. Jens was leaning against the tree, holding Lucas steady in his arms as he practically curled into his embrace. Lucas was pressed tight against Jens, practically pinning him against the tree, with one leg slotted between both of Jens’. Even with the added fabric of his hoodie, the bark still managed to scratch and irritate his back, but Jens didn’t mind because Lucas was curled into his embrace and kissing him heatedly. Once they started getting cold, Lucas’s hands were tucked between Jens’ hoodie and his t-shirt, keeping warm and out of the slight wind. Jens had simply pulled down the sleeves to cover his hands. 

With each passing kiss, one of them would mumble about how they needed to go back inside or how their friends were probably wondering where they were. And, with each passing kiss, the other would grin and mumble “just a few more minutes” before the kisses would ignite once again, bringing them back into the cycle of kissing without stopping, prolonging their stay out in the slight winter air.

When Jens’ phone finally rings, or rather chimes annoyingly, Lucas groaned, practically demanding, “Ignore it”, between their heated kisses. Lucas brought their lips back together, eager to continue kissing, opening their mouths against one another. 

Jens was more than willing to listen to Lucas, to prolong their kisses, but he found himself reaching for his phone, pushing his thighs off the tree to fetch it from his back pocket. Lucas let out a groan, practically sounding like he was whining as he buried his face into Jens’ neck, and Jens chuckled. “I’m sorry,” he informed. “It’s Robbe’s ringtone or else I wouldn’t get it.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Lucas managed, pressing an open-mounted kiss against Jens’ neck. For added measure, he bit down on the skin harder than necessary. “But, only because it’s Robbe.” Jens grinned, pressing a kiss against the part of his cheek that he could reach before turning to his phone. 

Robbe: _Hey._

_It got complicated._

Jens sat up a little straighter and Lucas let him, shifting against him. 

Jens: _With Sander?_

_What happened?_

Robbe: _I thought I could ignore it._

_But I couldn’t._

_He doesn’t want the same thing I do._

_I don’t know what to do, Jens._

Jens: _Where are you?_

Robbe: _Laundry mat by the dorms_

Jens: _I’ll be there soon._

“What is it?” Lucas questioned.

“It’s Robbe,” Jens remarked. “Apparently, something happened with Sander.” That piece of information seemed to have caught Lucas’s attention because he turned to stare up at Jens. The taller of the two surrendered his phone so Lucas could glance through the recent messages. “He’s sitting in the laundry in emotional turmoil.”

“So, he needs you?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I’m going with you,” Lucas declared. He tossed Jens back his phone, which he almost didn’t catch, and moved back to the house and the party that they abandoned. “Plus, it’ll provide a perfect excuse for Dominick.” Oh, right, _Dominick._ As if sensing his thoughts, Lucas returned in front of them, pressing a lingering kiss against his lips before stating, “Don’t worry, the only coffee dates I’m excepting from now on are from you and Sander.”

“Sander?” Jens questioned, moving after him. 

“Yeah, we always have coffee after our art class,” Lucas remarked with a shrug of his shoulders. “We generally compare our projects, talk about memes, and complain about the teacher. He’s incredibly narrow-minded and thinks that we’re dating because we’re two guys who share the same interests.” 

“Tell Sander to fuck off. You’re mine.”

“Yes, I am.” 

* * *

“There you are!” 

Somehow, in the course of however long Jens had been outside with Lucas, their small group of friends had managed to gravitate into the foyer. The room was quite spacious and opened up into the living room where the majority of the dance party was at. Moyo was leaning against the railing, facing the brown-haired DJ with a septum piercing and a leather jacket who was actively talking to him now, as Kes was talking with Isa, who was trying to get him to dance. 

Jens raised his eyebrow, opening the coat closet in the hallway. “Moyo, you literally saw me go out in the backyard,” Jens said. He quickly found his coat amongst the others and shrugged it on. As soon as the jacket was on his shoulders, he felt a little warmer. His body was still adjusting and warming up from being outside in the colder temperatures without a jacket.

“Yeah, but we looked for you and you weren’t there!” Moyo replied, shrugging his shoulders. Jens shrugged his shoulders and placed the coat hanger back on the metal bar. Then, he went in search of the jacket that Lucas had put on before leaving the dorm. “Where are you going? Is everything okay?” 

Stepping around the corner like it was planned, Lucas spoke up, “Robbe texted.” Jens found the coat, pulling it off the plastic hanger with ease. Without looking, he tossed the coat to Lucas, who grunted when it hit him, and playfully shoved Jens. As Jens closed the door to the closet, he spotted Lucas shrugging on the coat and zipping it up. “We’re going to check on him and make sure he’s okay.”

“We?” Kes questioned, a knowing grin turning up his face. 

“Yeah, Kes,” Jens spoke, grabbing Lucas’s hand in his own. It was still freezing cold from their prolonged makeout session in the backyard. But, Jens didn’t mind because he was almost positive that his hand was equally as cold. Grinning over at Kes, Jens practically dragging Lucas out the front door and grinned over at their friend, “We.” 

* * *

Once Lucas and Jens had disappeared out the front door of Senne De Smet’s apartment, the group was left in stunned silence for almost a minute. There was a confused look on Moyo’s face as he opened and closed his mouth several times without any words coming out. Kes’s features were painted in amusement as he glanced in the direction of Isa, who was grinning in the direction of the wooden door that the two had just disappeared out of. Finally, Moyo managed to string his words together, turning to Kes, “When did that happen?” 

Kes smirked, wrapping one arm around Isa, “About a few months ago.” 

“What, no way! You knew?!”

Kes shrugged his shoulders, letting Isa drag him into the living room to dance, as he grinned at his friend over his shoulder. “You have to learn how to pay more attention, Moyo.” Moyo let out a groan, laughing as the girl he was with descended into giggles.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr -> @ravenbrenna09


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